


Autumn and Dusk

by SeekerSky143



Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-31
Updated: 2017-11-17
Packaged: 2018-09-13 16:55:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 41,052
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9133027
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SeekerSky143/pseuds/SeekerSky143
Summary: Sanji's hands rise to clench at strands of hair, but he belatedly remembers the grey beanie he has donned over his head. The press of its woollen surface against his bare fingertips pulls forward a memory he desperately wishes to forget, and he crouches onto the ground, hands covering his face, fingers entangled in the hair loose from the beanie.Today is a day he wouldn’t ever forget.Today is the day he was stood up at the altar.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first fanfic I've written in a long time. That isn't to say I haven't written any before - I have another OP fic written on my ff.net account under the same name, but it's been a long time since I've written anything in this universe.
> 
> To be honest, I don't really know where this is going. I've been struggling to continue my own original novels, so I decided to jump back into writing fanfics to hopefully gain some inspiration and refuel. Because of this, I don't know how often I'd update, especially with a new university semester coming up, but I'll try my best! Having reviews would be a huge motivating factor too, of course! (Also, on another note, the title for this was really just randomly chosen because of aforementioned reason)
> 
> As mentioned above, I don't really know the direction I'll be going in this story, so it's difficult for me to say explicit what ships will be involved. I mean, there are some ships I have in mind because these are the ships I ship in OP (wow, that sentence was wild), but I don't want to make any promises because I'm going to let the story lead itself. If you want to know what are my OP ships, you can take a look at my bookmarks for a better idea! My ships are actually quite conservative. 
> 
> There shouldn't be any manga spoilers here, aside from some character spoilers. I'd most likely just spazz about new manga chapters in the notes here, but I'll be sure to give a warning if I do! Also, if you haven't reached Zou yet, there are some new characters introduced from Zou onwards that'll be mentioned in this fic!
> 
> Alright, enough from me. Here's the first chapter! Enjoy!

**Chapter One**

 

It’s the kind of weather he loves the most.

The wind, weaving through the strands of his loose blond hair, leaves a cold mark on his beaten cheeks. His hands are shoved into the deep pockets of his fitted charcoal coat, the sleeves of his inner dress shirt the colour of a summer sky peeking out from beneath his folded coat cuffs. There’s a darker blue scarf casually rolled around his neck, the two ends falling loose around his shoulders. His dark pants are fitted snugly into a pair of brown boots.

Around him, leaves loose from their branches patter lightly onto the ground surrounding him. The street lights have only just sputtered to life, and they cast a series of fuzzy yellow spheres onto the dirt road. The streets are nearly bare of people, with most having ducked into the nearest restaurants and eateries for the night, and all he hears is the howling of wind as they snake through the gaps between trees.

It’s the kind of weather he loves the most, with the air being prickly cold all around him, yet he himself is toasty warm.

His fingers wrap themselves around the slim edge of his phone in his right pocket, and he’s suddenly cold again. The blond presses his lips tight together. His head is bowed low, eyes resolutely fixed onto the front of his boots.

He stands there for a minute or so, trying to control his breathing, fists clenched tight in his pockets. There’s something rattling loose in his chest, shaking and squirming and fighting, _struggling_ , to get out, and this time, he can’t stop it. He can’t push it down, so the beast tears itself loose and wrenches the tears out from his tear ducts and he’s crying and he can’t stop. The tears run cold down his pink cheeks, and the trails they take leave cold marks against his skin.

His hands rise to clench at strands of hair, but he belatedly remembers the grey beanie he has donned over his head. The press of its woollen surface against his bare fingertips pulls forward a memory he desperately wishes to forget, and he crouches onto the ground, hands covering his face, fingers entangled in the hair loose from the beanie.

Today is a day he wouldn’t ever forget.

Today is the day he was stood up at the altar.

 

 

 

“Who do you think would be the first to get married?” Nami gave a wide grin as she leaned back against the couch, cheeks pinked. “I mean so far, right now,” She looked around, index finger outstretched as she pointed at everyone in the circle. “We’ve all been dating around but none of us have yet been in any steady relationships. Seriously, we’re in our twenties. It’s about time at least _one_ of us gets hitched!”

They had been drinking for hours already. It was the New Year’s Eve weekend, and everybody had gathered in Luffy and Usopp’s shared apartment for celebrations. Sanji, of course, had prepared a feast; Nami had shockingly splurged on quality alcohols, Franky had brought films to watch, Robin had told a few ghost stories, Chopper – the youngest at the age of 19 – had put down his medical books for the celebration, and Brook had performed. It was well past midnight now, and everybody was content and full from the food and hazy from the alcohol.

“Ah, my dear Nami-swan! If you wish to be wed, you need only ask!” Sanji leapt from his curled position on the floor to land gracefully in front of Nami’s feet. “How long I’ve waited for this day – oh, how long indeed! I knew you needed time to come to your senses, and here I stayed, and now! Nami-swan, if you would so wish, I’d –”

“That’s enough, Sanji-kun,” She answered breezily, and then turned to Usopp. A Cheshire-like grin had sprouted on her face as she tilted her head at him. “What about you. Usopp? Last I heard, Kaya was back in town… isn’t she?”

“Oh right! Kaya!” Chopper piped up from the fort he had managed to build for himself using all of Luffy and Usopp’s duvets and pillows. “Hey Usopp, you said you’d bring me to see her! I have so much I want to talk to her about – there are so many new medical discoveries these days –”

“Chopper-san,” Brook tapped the younger man on his shoulder. “I’m afraid you should let, um, Usopp-san answer the question.” The man with the afro turned Chopper’s attention to Nami, who had her attention fixed so resolutely on Usopp that she probably hadn’t heard what Chopper had said at all.

“Oh, oops,” The medical undergraduate stuffed his face as far as he could back into his pillow fort. “Sorry.”

“U-Uh, what are you talking about, Nami?” Usopp gave a nervous laughter that rang in the silent apartment. “Kaya and I are just friends! Childhood friends! Childhood friends meet once in a while, don’t they! There’s nothing going on between us!”

The redhead shifted her focus to the rest of the group. “Everyone…” At her smile, Usopp shuddered. “How much would you like to bet that Usopp and Kaya would get together in… hm, let’s just give a rough estimate. Six months?”

“Who’s Kaya?” Luffy said, swinging his legs and scratching his face.

“That’s Usopp’s girlfriend.” Zoro replied as he popped open the lid of another beer can.

“That’s not my girlfr –”

“Ah, that’s that _super_ beautiful blonde girl, right? We’ve met her once before?” Franky chimed, and Robin smiled.

“She had just finished her undergraduate studies and was planning on where she should continue her postgraduate studies.” Robin answered, “I remember suggesting a few places for her. She went into the university in the next city over, didn’t she, Usopp?”

“Uh… yeah,” The long-nose man frowned. “How did you even _know_ that?”

“Ah, so that’s her!” Luffy knocked his fist onto his palm. “She’s Usopp’s wife!”

“WHA – no! Where would you even _get_ that?”

“I bet they’d get together in three months!” Franky shot up to his feet. Chopper’s pillow-fort, which had been propped against Franky’s legs, collapsed the moment the blue-haired man stood up.

“Oi, Franky!” Chopper yelled as he struggled to dig out of the pillow avalanche.

“Oops, sorry!” The older man laughed as he grabbed Chopper by the hand and pulled him out of the wreckage.

“Three months?” Sanji laughed. “If Usopp wasn’t such a scaredy-cat, then _maybe_ three months would work, but by my estimations…” The blond pretended to assess the long-nosed man sitting next to him. “This shitty bastard will probably only make a move after one year!”

“Hey!”

“Ah, I’m afraid I would have to disagree with you there, Sanji-san.” Brook answered, “I am, after all, a far wiser and older man. And in all my days of living, I must say, I have yet to see someone as dedicated, as loyal, as unwavering in his childhood love as that of Usopp. The man has infinite patience for waiting and therefore,” He grinned slowly and pointed a long, bony finger at the said man himself. “I think it’d be ten more years before Usopp-san even says anything to Kaya-san!”

Luffy burst out laughing. “Oh man, ten more years! Ten more years! Usopp would be seventy by then!”

“What? Excuse me, I am at a healthy ripe age of twenty-three, mind you! In ten years, I would only be twenty-five, because I age at a rate slower than most men! Ah, it would frighten you to hear of how quickly my cells grow! How fast my metabolism is, how strong –”

“I don’t think you know how ageing works at all…” Chopper muttered under his breath.

“Tough luck, Usopp.” Zoro patted the long-nosed man. “Ten years, after the fifteen years you have already waited for?”

“—the hundred bones I have in my body – eh? Wait, what? No! I don’t like Kaya! How many times have I already _said_ that, we are just friends!”

“Alright, alright, how bout we give this little guy a break, huh? We’re gonna give him an aneurysm.” Franky sat back down. “If we talk about love... isn’t there one expert we should be placing our bets on?”

The moment Franky had finished his sentence, all of them had turned their heads to look at Sanji, who was still kneeling in front of Nami. And then, also simultaneously, they turned away and shook their heads.

“Nah, he wouldn’t be the first.” Usopp shook his head. “He’s too desperate.”

“What?! I’m going to kick your shitty head so far back that –”

“Too prissy.”

“What did you say, you shitty marimo –”

 “Sanji? Love? Meat! I love meat! Sanji, make me some meat!”

“In all of my living years I have never seen someone as hopeless as Sanji-san when it comes to love.”

“Alright, guys!” Nami’s voice cut through the din the rest was making, “What about this? We write the name of whoever we think would get married first, and put it in this pouch.” She produced a green pouch out of nowhere, “And we each put in ten dollars right now. Whoever wins, wins the lot.”

“What’s the _point_ of this any –” At Nami’s glare, Usopp hastily – and very intelligently – shut up.

“Since everyone is agreeable, take a piece of paper each –” The redhead handed the slips of paper around, “Write the person you think is gonna get married, and then sign your name at the bottom and throw it into the pouch! Also, deposit your ten dollars in here!” She produced another orange pouch out of nowhere.

“… Isn’t that orange pouch your _wallet_?” Franky began, but Chopper had very suddenly and _very conveniently_ been shoved into the blue-haired man as Nami got up such that Franky’s words were muffled and, unfortunately, unheard.

Nami grabbed Luffy’s wrist just as he was about to dump his slip in. “Luffy, you are supposed to write the person you’re _voting_ to get married first, and then sign off with your name, not write your name _twice_!”

“Why can’t I vote for myself? A man must always stick up for himself!” With that, Luffy stuffed his slip into the pouch and walked away. Nami could only sigh.

Finally, after five minutes of jostling, everyone had put their names and deposited the money into their respective pouches.

Nami beamed as she patted her bulging orange pouch and stuffed into her bag. “Now, we wait.”

That had been two years ago, and it had been a wild ride.

Usopp had managed to find the courage to confess to Kaya after five and a half months – so it was fortunate that no one had taken up Nami’s bet on _that_ – but they had broken up after a year. They were too close as friends, the two of them had decided, and the love Usopp thought he still had for her during his childhood had all but dissipated since they’d grown up. They still hung out occasionally when Kaya came to the city, but it seemed that being friends truly _was_ the better choice. The two had quickly returned back to the easy camaraderie and friendship that had marked their childhood.

And with that, Chopper’s hopes of winning had, like Usopp and Kaya’s love, dissipated.

Zoro had found someone named Kuina – a fellow kendo-practitioner who had bested him the first day he had met her in the dojo he occasionally helped out at. The two of them bonded quickly, and unlike Usopp, once Zoro knew it was love, he didn’t hesitate in confessing.

The two of them had met two months after the bet, and had begun dating after four months of knowing each other. Things between them seemed good and steady, and their bond seemed almost unbreakable – Brook was beside himself with joy as their relationship seemed to only grow stronger as the months flew by.

It came to a shock to everyone when Zoro had told them about their break-up after eight months of dating. They had a lot in common, the two of them – too much, in fact. Eventually they both decided that it was best that they just went back to being friends. Having such similar personalities worked great when they were friends, but was too much if they were together.

Brook stuck to playing sad, mopey tunes for a week after that.

Nami had gotten together with one of the foremen Franky worked with in his construction company, a month after the bet was taken. The man was a blond named Paulie, and while he always admonished Nami’s choice of clothing, the two of them worked out great – for a while. Nami had loved his confidence and passion for his job as much as she had loved teasing him about the way he blushed and stuttered in front of pretty girls like herself. She liked his dependable, grounded personality, but in the end things just didn’t work out. The passion in their relationship had fizzled in three months – at least, on Nami’s end – and the weeks after that found Nami and Franky on rather awkward terms, as Franky hung out often with both Paulie and Nami and with the break-up being harder on Paulie than it had been for Nami, the blue-haired man was forced into a very uncomfortable situation.

It didn’t help that he had also voted for Nami to be the first to get wed.

No one had expected Chopper to go into a relationship, so when he suddenly arrived with a girlfriend in tow, everyone had been at a complete and utter loss for words. Carrot was a fun and bubbly girl in her first year of her veterinary studies in university, and the two of them had met while taking a common elective in school. Eventually the two realised that what they had mistaken for love was nothing more than just the illusion of a person their imaginations had cooked up in their minds, and post-break-up, the two of them had quickly delved into a strong and easy friendship. Their entire relationship only spanned a month.

And then finally, a year after the bet had been made, Sanji met Pudding.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! 
> 
> This chapter really came out faster that expected, but well, I'm still on holiday, so I should really write as much as I can during this period anyway!
> 
> I've decided that I'll probably stick to the ships that I've always shipped as the main coupling here, but it doesn't mean that there won't be any other coupling that will appear! I've also made some minor edits regarding the timeline in the first chapter. Like the previous chapter, this is split into two parts - the first part in the present, and the second in the past. The second part takes place a year and a month after the bet was made. 
> 
> Anyway, enjoy!

**Chapter Two**

 

Usopp has never been very certain about Pudding.

He considers himself Sanji’s best friend in the crew, and so when Sanji had called him at midnight one day gushing about this beautiful pastry chef that he had just met, Usopp was genuinely happy for the man. But even then, he never actually expected anything to blossom between Sanji and Pudding, because Sanji fell in love with every girl he met, and most girls were only there long enough to humour him.

Sanji had proposed four months into their relationship, and now six months later, they were getting married. Usopp was made to be the best man.

“Luffy, keep your fingers off the food! The reception’s just begun!” The long-nosed man yells as he storms up towards his rubbery roommate. “Where’s your tie gone to?”

“But it’s stuffy!” Luffy whines, digging it out from where he has stuffed it in his pockets. “Sanji won’t care if I don’t wear it!”

“Sanji _will_ , and you know it!” Usopp chides, forcing the tie back under Luffy’s propped collar. “C’mon, you want Sanji to be happy on his wedding day, right?”

Luffy nods his head slowly.

“Then wear the tie and _stay away from the food_!” But the long-nosed man smiles anyway, patting his roommate’s messy hair. “Who’d have known he’d be the first to get married?”

Luffy laughs in that usual loud cackle of his, “No one!”

“Did anyone even _bet_ on him in the first place?” Usopp ponders, slapping Luffy’s hand away from the table, and manoeuvring him such that the rubbery man was facing away from the food. He suddenly remembers Luffy betting on himself, and his forehead crinkles. “Eh, Luffy, have you ever been in love?”

“Hm, me?” He looks up at Usopp. “What do you mean?”

“Like,” The long-nosed man lets out a long-drawn sigh. Maybe it isn’t best to broach this topic with his… well, romantically-impaired roommate. “Have you ever liked someone _beyond_ mere friendship? Like, you want to hang out with them all the time, even after you’d just hung out?”

“Yeah, with all of you guys!” The man, producing his iconic straw-hat out of nowhere and propping it on his messy head, answers easily. “Sometimes I think we should all live together, in this big happy house by the sea, so we’ll be like an actual family! But then I also know that Sanji and Nami and Robin would prefer their privacy, and Franky needs a lot of space to make his stuff, and Chopper needs to be able to study, and Brook has this whole other thing going on outside of us with his music, and Zoro needs time alone too. That’s why I just stay with you!”

Warmth spreads in Usopp’s chest – Luffy really is like an overgrown child sometimes, isn’t he? – but he returns back to the topic at hand. “Not like that. Like…” And then it clicks. “Like someone you’d be willing to share your meat with!”

Luffy’s jaw drops open. “My _meat_?”

“Yeah, your meat!” Now that he finally has Luffy’s attention, he ploughs on. “You won’t steal from the person’s plate, and you’ll even share your food! You might even _give_ some of your food to this special someone!”

The straw-hat man scrunches his brows together. “Well…” He begins slowly. “That person would have to be _really_ special for me to offer my meat.”

Usopp knows the answer to the question, but he asks it anyway. “Have you had anyone like that?”

Luffy fixes his wide eyes on the long-nosed man, and then shakes his head. “Nah, not really. But sometimes I think I’d offer some meat to Shanks, if I ever see him again!”

All of them has heard a lot about the elusive red-haired man, but none has ever seen him. All they know is that he’s a benefactor that Luffy cherishes a lot, but even the straw-hat man hasn’t seen him since his childhood.

“And you’ve never been interested in anyone in that way, have you?” Usopp probes, and Luffy shakes his head again.

“Nope. And I’m fine with that! I have you guys, anyway. But also, I can’t say for certain that I won’t ever be interested in anyone in that way, right?” Luffy tilts his head to the side. “I mean, there are so many more people I have yet to meet! So many more places I’ve yet to visit! I’m fine with not having anyone like Pudding to Sanji, or what Kaya was to you, but if a person like that _does_ appear, then so be it! It’ll be a brand-new adventure!”

 Sometimes, Luffy can be so insightful that it’s frightening. And Luffy really isn’t wrong about love being an adventure. Every relationship is something new and different and frightening altogether, and they all pose different challenges. While things might not have worked out with Kaya, Usopp has never regretted their relationship. He’s learnt a lot about himself through it all.

“You’re right…” When Usopp turns back to look at the straw-hat man, the man has already disappeared somewhere into the crowd. Usopp groans, rubbing at his temples with his fingers.

Surely his roommate would know more than to cause trouble at Sanji’s wedding reception… right?

Usopp gulps. Probably not.

 

 

 

“Hey! We’re here!” Nami called out, and Zoro and Kuina found their booth somewhere at the corner of the bar.

“I’ll get the drinks,” Kuina said, patting Zoro on the shoulder. “Ale, right?”

The green-haired man grunted, and his girlfriend left to order their drinks. As he made his way to sit down, Usopp piped up. “How was work?”

“Some runts tried to run after robbing a store.” He answered, leaning back on the cushioned seats and propping his feet on the stool in front of him. “Didn’t even put up much of a fight once I caught up to them.”

“That’s just what I’d expect of you!” Usopp laughed, already having drunk a little too much. He smacked Zoro on the back, beaming. “Of course, a police officer like yourself wouldn’t stand a match to me, not even if I give you a head –”

“Here’s your drink,” Kuina plopped the mug onto the table just as Zoro moved his feet off the stool, and the brunette sat herself down on it. She looked around the table. “I suppose Chopper’s studying… hm, the cook isn’t here today?”

 “He’s out with his new girlfriend – what was her name or something? Flan? No wait – Pudding.” Nami pulled a face. “All these people with the weird food names. I mean, Chopper was dating someone named what, Carrot?”

“But you gotta admit, Nami-sis, Chopper’s name is weird enough as it is!” Franky said in that booming voice of his, and then crunched into his burger. “But I gotta admit though, I’m super missing Sanji’s food.”

“He’s barely even around anymore!” Luffy said, and then stuffed two drumsticks into his mouth. “I mean, swurb, he can meet his gulfren, but he’s shtill gotta cook shum meat for me, right?”

“Swallow your food before speaking!” Nami smacked Luffy on the shoulder, and the rubbery man swallowed the rest of his food.

“I said, he can still meet his girlfriend, but he should still cook some meat for me, right?” Luffy looked around the table, waiting to hear the chimes of acknowledgement that should follow. When they didn’t come, Luffy added, “I said, he should still cook some meat for me, ri –”

“Shut your trap, I’m here, you rubbery bastard.” At that voice, Luffy jumped up to his feet and leapt across the table, crushing Sanji in a hug.

“Sanji! You’re here!” Luffy beamed, pulling Sanji into the seat beside him as he shoved Zoro and Kuina out of the way. “It’s been a _month_!”

“I’ve been busy,” The blond answered gruffly, and then his eyes turned into hearts as he pressed his palm to his chest. “Busy in _love_! Ah, Pudding, the love of my life! The oxygen in my lungs, the blood in my veins! The very reason for my sole existence!”

“Sanji,” Usopp frowned slightly. Everything looked slightly blurry, but he hadn’t drunk _that_ much, had he? Still, there was a thought pushing its way to the forefront of his mind, and it slipped out without his realising. “Isn’t today your… one-month anniversary or something?”

The moment the words came out, Nami slapped Usopp’s hand. “Are you _crazy?_ Do you want him to leave when he’s finally _here_?”

At the long-nosed man’s words, the blond lowered his head, his hands falling from their position situated on his chest. “Ah, about that,” Sanji gave a small smile. “She said she had something urgent to attend to, told me not to worry.”

“What urgent – _agh_ , Nami!” Nami had clasped a hand over Usopp’s mouth, and then she smiled sweetly at the blond.

“Well, there’s nothing to do then but stay here!” She said, and Luffy nodded his head fervently beside her.

“Yeah! Stay here! We haven’t seen you in _ages_!”

“Look at how happy Luffy is!” Nami hissed into Usopp’s ear. “If Sanji leaves, Luffy will be whining again!”

“It’s only been a month.” The cook answered, placing a cigarette in his mouth but not lighting it up. “So, what’s up with you shitty bastards?”

Zoro frowned. There was something obviously bothering the blond – something that had to do with Pudding and her ‘urgent matter’, but Zoro had never liked the girl anyway and besides, the shit-cook’s relationship problems were the shit-cook’s own. Just as his were his own. Easy as that – there was no need to go all up in someone else’s business.

“Well, Zoro was just telling us about some robbers he nabbed, and before that Usopp was telling us about… eh, I don’t remember.” Luffy laughed. “Usopp, tell it again!”

“If you insist,” The long-nose man puffed up his chest and stood up, swaying slightly as he did. “Let me just tell you that the great Usopp-sama has just been hired to design a website for a _very_ well-established company! If you know of what company it is, you’ll be shocked! You’ll be stunned! You’ll be bowing down to me with tears in your eyes and –”

“That’s wonderful, Usopp-san.” Brook answered, sucking on his straw loudly. “Yohohoho! This calls for a celebration!”

“Let’s do some shots!” Nami piped up, holding up her glass in the air, when Sanji suddenly stood up.

“Sorry, I’ve got to take this call.” He said, frowning at his phone as he squeezed past Zoro and Kuina out of the booth.

“But Sanji, you just got here!” Luffy complained. Sanji held a hand up.

“I’ll be back soon, don’t worry!” The blond answered, his tone non-committal as he left the bar.

“I don’t like this Pudding.” The straw-hat man pouted, folding his arms across his chest. “Zoro’s with Kuina, and he still hangs out with us! Why is Pudding hogging all of Sanji’s time?”

“It’s Sanji-kun.” Nami sighed. “He won’t say no to anything that comes out of a girl’s mouth, much less his girlfriend’s. He’ll be back – don’t worry.”

“Besides, you can’t compare curly-bro to swordsman-bro!” Franky guffawed. “Can you imagine Sanji being the same with Pudding as Zoro is with Kuina?”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right!” Luffy laughed, his bad mood all but dissipated. “That makes sense! I guess it’s just that Sanji’s always around; it just feels weird without him. But it’s okay! We’ll wait for him! Let’s do our shots!”

“Shots! Shots! Shots!” The rest of them chanted, aside from Zoro, who was staring intently at his ale.

Robin, who had been observing at the side, gave a small smile. “Let me go and order it.” As she moved past Zoro and Kuina, her gaze dipped down for a second before flitting back up.

Zoro was not the most romantic man, but it was easy to read his body language. Zoro and Kuina, while never caring much for public displays of affection, were usually seated such that their thighs would at least be touching. It was the way couples were after they'd been dating for a while, when all they needed was the reassurance of their partner's warmth right beside them.

That night, there was a space between them that yawned wider as the hours trickled by. It didn't come as a huge shock to Robin, but if she had to say one person who'd mesh well in a relationship with Zoro, Kuina would have been it. It had been so, but apparently, it was not anymore. 

Franky rose up to help Robin as she returned with the tray of drinks, when Sanji came stumbling back in.

“Sorry guys – what are we doing now, shots?” He frowned, slipping his phone back into his black jeans.

“Yep! Usopp’s got work!” Luffy answered cheerfully.

“Ah, what did you say? You’re saying that long-nose here has finally found some work?” Sanji’s smile widened as he turned to the long-nose man. “Mere shots wouldn’t do the job, you know.” His grin twisted as he eyed his friend mischievously.

It was well after midnight when Kuina excused herself to return home, and after Zoro had sent her off on a cab, he stumbled back into the bar. He yawned, scratching his neck before sitting back down beside the blond.

The blond had his head on the table, cheek resting on his hands. Luffy had been dragged out onto the dancefloor by Nami, with Franky and Robin following closely behind. Usopp was snoring loudly in his seat, and Brook had gone to talk to some musicians he recognised at the bar.

“You awake?” Zoro nudged Sanji, who stirred but didn’t respond. The green-haired man sighed, leaning back against the cushioned seat.

Zoro and Kuina had had a big fight before coming over to the bar, and while Zoro still abided by his ‘my business is my own business’ rule, he’d rather have some distraction than stew in his own thoughts.

He stared at Usopp for a while, smiling – this opportunity really was overdue for their long-nose graphic designer. It wasn’t the easiest of jobs – heck, it was probably tough as hell – but that long-nose man stuck to it and now he finally had some sort of pay-off for his efforts. Usopp had also been making some character and game design sketches with Franky and Luffy for a new PlayStation RPG they had in mind, so once that happened, Usopp’s career would really take off as well. That long-nose had been struggling so long, it was about time this happened for him.

It had been slightly over a year since that fateful New Year’s Eve, and now things seemed to be looking up for the most of them – Usopp with that new work coming in, Nami with her promotion at the bank at the end of the last year, and… Sanji with Pudding, he guessed.

They had only met the girl once – it had been a week into their relationship, and Sanji had excitedly brought her over to one of their many gatherings at Luffy and Usopp’s apartment. The girl seemed nice – rather shy – and pretty, and she was passionate about desserts and pastries, which was nice. She had baked some sort of pie for them, and while it wasn’t Sanji-quality, it was definitely good.

Zoro hadn’t spoken much to her, but from what he had seen, he couldn't understand why the two of them were together. Some people made sense – Usopp with Kaya made sense, even if they hadn’t worked out in the end. Some people… made sense, only after a little while, like Nami and Paulie. A lot of their relationships didn’t make sense, as well, like when Robin dated that creepy entrepreneur Crocodile, or when Usopp dated that pretty blonde girl Conis back in university. But even those had their own logical reasons – at that time, Robin had no one else to hold onto, and in Usopp’s case… well, the girl was pretty and blonde, just like a certain other _someone_ he had had a huge crush on at that point in time.

But Sanji and Pudding, though?

Of course, he knew why Sanji was with her. She was pretty, loved cooking – or baking, there wasn’t much of a difference to him – and most importantly, she was willing to be with him. Pudding, on the other hand? Zoro couldn’t seem to gauge her at all. Even during that one and only time the rest of the crew had met her, there didn’t seem to be any chemistry between her and Sanji.

Zoro shook his head. He shouldn’t think too much into such matters. After all, those two had only been dating a month. It didn’t matter.

He trusted the blond to take care of himself.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I honestly think this fic might just be ramblings of my thoughts on love. I'm really kind of like Luffy here, actually, and his viewpoint on it is the same as my own.
> 
> I know Oda has put up a list of occupations the straw-hats would be in if they weren't pirates, but I'm not going to follow that exactly (for instance, Nami is an accountant at a bank instead of being a childcare worker). 
> 
> Anyway, hope you enjoyed!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> School's going to be starting soon and I'm going to be flying off soon, so I don't know how fast chapter updates will be from here on! Thank you all for reading and commenting, I really appreciate it! Enjoy the new chapter!

**Chapter Three**

 

  
“Alright, so…” Usopp peers close into his computer screen, staring at the character sketch he has opened up. Is the red hair a tad bit too vivid? He frowns, long nose nearly smearing the screen as he considers it. Perhaps he should lighten it a smidge.

Just as he hovers his cursor over the sketch, Luffy leaps into the room and presses into his side. “Ooh, that looks good, Usopp!” His loud voice blares into the long nose’s ear, followed by a thoughtful, “I think he could use some piercings!”

“Wouldn’t having piercings _on top of_ tattoos _on top of_ a metal jaw be a little too much?” Usopp asks, leaning back against his chair – he knows he wouldn’t get any work done with Luffy bouncing around excitedly beside him.

“It’ll be _awesome_!” Luffy declares, his fist pumped up in the air. The straw-hat’s eyes flitters over to the digital clock in front of him, its red letters screaming ’23:59’ while the smaller letters above it screeches ’23 December’. “Hey, look, it’s nearly Christmas Eve!”

Usopp turns his attention to the clock, “You’re right. I didn’t even notice how late it’s been.” He intertwines his fingers together and stretches his arms behind his back, feeling the pop in his shoulders as he does so. He rotates his head, feeling the pull in his neck muscles, before saving his unfinished work and slamming his laptop shut. “Probably a good time to stop here, then.” He sighs just as the numbers on the clock turn.

It’s now Christmas Eve. Usually the gang would be together, staying overnight as they count down to Christmas. This year, however…

Luffy stares at his feet. “Sanji’s disappeared for two months now, hasn’t he?”

“Yeah.” Usopp replies.

After the disastrous wedding, Sanji had run out. No one chased after him, because they had thought that it’d be better to give him some space.

But they’d never seen him again since.

Usopp had thought that Sanji would at least contact him, or maybe Luffy, but the blond never did. When they had broken into his house, it had been a ransacked mess – it looked almost as though his apartment had been robbed. The large flat-screen curved TV, his crystal ashtrays, laptop, set of cooking knives – even the huge old grandfather clock that Brook had given him had been taken.

They’d all tried calling the blond – had even tried to find him at his workplace – but he was nowhere in sight. Luffy had been so upset that he had even sought out Pudding, but the woman was gone without a trace as well.

There had been discussions about trying to seek the elusive man out, but in the end, they had decided to trust him. Now Usopp wonders if it’s a mistake.

The two of them delve into an uneasy silence, when Usopp’s phone breaks the tension. Usopp jumps, scurrying out of his chair to dig for his phone in the pile of blankets on his bed.

His heart drops as he registers the unknown number on the phone, but he picks it up anyway, with Luffy pressing his ear to the other side of the phone.

“Hello?” Usopp frowns. It can’t be another client, because it’s midnight on Christmas Eve. Whatever it is has got to be something serious.

“Hi,” The voice on the other end is smooth as silk; it makes Usopp clutch on tighter to his phone as he waits for the man to continue. “Is this…” There’s a short moment of silence, before the voice continues, “Usopp?”

Usopp shoots a look to Luffy, who bobs his head frantically. “Um… yes, who is this?”

“Do you know a blond man,” Usopp’s breath hitches in his chest as Luffy stares wide-eyed at him. “… with… curly brows?”

“Yes!” Usopp nearly jumps at his own loud response, and hastily clears his throat. “Um, I mean, yes! I know him – what’s happened to him? Where is he? Who are you?”

“I am a doctor.” The person’s tone is short and clipped. “I saw your friend lying on the ground, covered in inches of snow, so I took the liberty of bringing him to my office and treating him.” The doctor then recites his address for Usopp. “You are apparently listed as his emergency contact.”

Usopp scribbles the doctor’s address on his hand and nearly trips over himself as he thanks the man profusely.

Before the other line even hangs up, both Usopp and Luffy are already halfway out the door, dressed in their winter coats and boots. Luffy types a hasty message to the rest of the gang before the two rush out on the night of Christmas Eve to find their friend.

 

 

 

Brook knows exactly what kind of a person Sanji is. Sanji is kind – far too kind for a person with his upbringing and past – and loyal. Each insult he throws is merely armour over his actual care and concern for whom the insult is directed to, and he wraps his kindness up in even more coarseness that strangers who don’t bother to look too deeply might have taken his brash mannerism as his true nature.

None of this holds with girls, however. Sanji does himself a greater disservice when it comes to women. He lathers them almost chokingly with his greatest love and deepest affections; he wears his idealisms of romance close to his skin and plays his part like an over-dramatized theatre show. It’s fairy tales he tries to live out, in the grittiness of reality, and his wriggly dances and declarations of love paint a caricature of a character that barely manages to step out of the canvas from which its drawn on.

Perhaps it’s because the women Sanji chases after don’t seem to realise the deeper nature that is shoved into this two-dimensional caricature of a human being, because they mock him. They laugh at him, they trick him, and so often they splinter his childlike idealisms of romance that it’s a wonder his dreams are not yet shattered. It’s not their fault, these women, that they treat him as the superficial human being he acts out to be, but Brook knows that every time a woman treats him badly, rejects him and mocks his efforts, Sanji’s heart breaks a little on the inside.

And Sanji is loyal, too. For all the proclamations he makes of love and romance to every woman that flits past his gaze, Brook knows that when Sanji settles for someone, he builds a home over their relationship and nestles himself in there. Once Sanji has decided on someone, nothing rattles him from the position he has taken. That’s the position he has taken as the crew’s caretaker and protector, the role of a big brother to Chopper and of a best friend to Usopp. He never even remotely toes out of the fixed line he has drawn for himself for the position he’s in.

When Brook stares down at his dear friend, the tears sneak out of his eyes. Sanji-san is a kind, gentle, _loyal_ man. He doesn’t deserve whatever Pudding has done to him. He doesn’t deserve this treatment.

“What has happened to him, doctor-san?” Brook asks, having been the last person to reach. The doctor, an eerily tall man with dark shadows smeared under his eyes and tattoos littered up and down both arms, turns to look at him.

“Hypothermia.” The man answers, turning his attention back to the patient at hand. His gaze scans the rest of the blond’s body, “Fortunately, the frostbites on his ears and hands are mild – as his skin warms, he might feel a little pain, but there will be no permanent damage.” 

“What can we do to help?” Nami asks the doctor. Chopper rests his fingers on Sanji’s cold ones, frowning.

“Sharing body heat works.” Chopper replies in the doctor’s stead. “Have you changed him out of his wet clothing?” He stares at the doctor, who returns his stare with a slight smile.

“I have.” He answers curtly. “These are all the blankets I have at hand. I have placed some warm compresses on his chest and neck. If he still shivers, someone might want to share their body heat with him.”

“I’ll do it!” Luffy declares, bounding up to the bed, but Nami holds him back and looks at Chopper.

“Is he correct?” She asks, and Chopper’s gaze darts from Nami to the doctor, and back to Nami again. He nods his head.

The doctor doesn’t seem at all offended by Nami’s question. He settles somewhere at the back of the room, arms crossed, as he watches the rest of the room.

Luffy crawls into bed, throwing his arms over Sanji’s shivering body and pulling him close. “He’s cold.” He states. “How long has he been out in the cold?”

“He didn’t seem to have been out there for long, but…” The doctor produces a plastic bag, and then hands it over to Zoro, who’s standing closest to him. The bag carries some of Sanji’s clothes, all of them crumpled and messy, Sanji’s personalised lighter, a few boxes of cigarette, a tattered wallet, and a dead phone. “Is he homeless?”

“What? No!” Usopp yells, affronted, and Brook places a hand on the man’s shoulder.

“Sanji… doesn’t seem to have been home in a while.” Nami admits, and Franky frowns.

“I thought he’d just went off trying to get some space or something.” Franky runs his hands through his blue hair, “Had he been… sleeping outside, the whole time?”

“Doctor-san,” Robin finally speaks up. “Where did you find him?”

“In an alleyway outside a pub.” He answers.

“Do you have a phone charger?” Robin asks, taking the bag from Zoro and fishing out the phone. The doctor nods as he gestures to the charger on his table, and Robin plugs Sanji’s dead phone in.

When the phone comes back to life, the notifications blast up – a few hundred messages from all of them and dozens of missed calls pop up on the screen. Robin ignores them and heads to Sanji’s mailbox.

The latest read message was from Sanji’s bank, and Robin frowns as she reads the message. She presses her lips tight together as she turns back to face the rest of the room.

“It seems someone has withdrawn all of the money in Sanji’s bank accounts.” She states, her voice hard. "A few hours, before the wedding." She adds pointedly.

The room tenses for a long moment before Nami spits out, “That _bitch_!”

“But his apartment was still –” Chopper begins, but Franky shakes his head.

“He’s paid his rent for the rest of the year, I think.” The blue-haired man answers. “But I can imagine why he doesn’t want to return back there.”

“Wait a second, so what does this mean?” Usopp stands up, his chair scratching harshly against the surface of the floor. “You don’t mean to say Sanji’s… _broke_? And... he's been homeless these past two months? During the  _winter?_ ” How could they have agreed to leave him alone? How could they have left him alone when he was in such a state? Usopp clenches his fists so tight he feels the edges of his nails cut into his palms. They should have known better. They should have been by his side all this time.

And that woman.... 

“That woman robbed him clean and left him at the altar.” Zoro’s monotone cuts clear across the room, reciting Usopp's thoughts, and they fall silent once again, but this time, the silence seems almost _boiling_. Sanji shivers a little more, and Luffy wraps himself tighter across the blond’s body.

“I’m not gonna let her off!” Luffy yells, fists clenched tight. “How can she do this to him? What has he ever done to her?”

“My guess would be that she knows of his real identity.” Robin’s voice is drawn so taut the air tingles in anticipation. “She was after the Vinsmoke’s money the whole time. However, close to the date of the wedding, she realised Sanji’s estrangement from his family, so she decided to get however much she can from him before leaving him behind.”

“Vinsmoke?” Robin turns her attention to the doctor, who’s staring at the blond lying on his bed. “They own the multimillion-dollar corporation, Vinsmoke Enterprise.” He says slowly.

“Why did he not tell us anything about this?” Nami fumes. “We could help him! He doesn’t have to stay at his apartment if he doesn’t want to!”

“My guess is that Sanji-san doesn’t want us to realise what she’s done.” Brook pipes up quietly from his spot at the corner. “He doesn’t want to get her into trouble.”

“He’s still trying to protect her, after all this time?” Nami huffs a breath, placing her hands on her hips. “Sanji-kun, you _idiot_.” She shakes her head slowly, sitting herself down at the edge of his bed. “You didn’t have to suffer like this alone.”

“Anyway, who’re you?” Franky asks, marching up to the doctor. “You haven’t even introduced yourself. How do we know you’re a real doctor? How do we know you’re not in cahoots with that girl?”

“My name is Trafalgar Law.” The doctor answers, nonplussed. “I’m a real doctor – I can bring you my credentials if you like. And I don’t know who you’re talking about.” He shrugs, and then faces Luffy. “You can stay here for the night, I don’t mind. But I’ll be taking my leave now, and I’ll be locking the place up, so if you want to leave you will have to leave now.” No one moves, and Law gives a small smirk. “I expected that. Anyway, I want to see all of you cleared out of my office by 9 tomorrow morning.”

“Wait!” Luffy calls out, and the doctor stops somewhere outside the room. “Thanks for bringing Sanji here! You didn’t have to, but you did anyway! You’re a good guy, Torao!”

“It’s no problem.” The doctor replies, and after a moment they hear a _click_ sound as the doctor locks the door from the outside.

Chopper scurries over to Sanji’s side, pressing his ear to Sanji’s chest. “He’s breathing fine!” The young medical student declares, grinning.

“That Torao was an odd fellow, wasn’t he?” Nami mutters as Usopp nods his head fervently.

“He’s so cool!” Chopper hugs Sanji’s hand close to his chest. “He’s already a licensed medical practitioner! How long would it take for me to be like him, I wonder?”

“You’re already good enough, Chopper,” Zoro states, and Chopper blushes.

“I-I’m not happy that you praised me, you idiot!”

“Right now, I’m more concerned about Sanji-san.” Brook steps up to the bed. The blond would look like he’s sleeping, if not for the frightening pallor of his skin. “How would he react, now that everyone knows the truth?”

“He’s got to deal with it.” Zoro folds his arms across his chest. “If he doesn’t, no one will be able to help him.”

“What about his living arrangements, though?” Chopper asks, and Franky jumps up.

“I know! I’ll move the rest of his belongings out of the house by tomorrow afternoon!” The blue-haired man answers, standing with his feet slightly apart and his arms raised up and pressed together above his head. “He can stay with me for the time being!”

“You live with all those rowdy construction workers!” Nami snaps. “That’s not gonna help him! They’re gonna start asking him questions and he’s not ready to handle that right now! Besides, _where_ even will he stay? Your apartment’s a mess!”

“Hey! Just because you can’t appreciate the _super_ decorations doesn’t mean it’s a mess!”

“He can live with us!” Usopp offers, but Robin shakes her head.

“I’m afraid that’s not the best option.” She says. “He’s used to having you depend on him rather than the other way around. Just imagine how much worse he’d feel if he has to depend on you instead to take care of him.”

“That’s not fair! Why can’t it be my turn to take care of him this time around? He can depend on me too, you know!”

“It’s just a vulnerable time right now,” Nami clarifies, “And we don’t want to make Sanji-kun feel worse than he already is. I know that you want to help, but it’d just make Sanji-kun feel bad. He’s already hiding himself away just so that we wouldn’t find out what happened – he must already feel bad enough.”

“But –”

“He can live with me.” Zoro suddenly states, and Usopp’s protests wither away in his throat as he stares at the green-haired man.

“Zoro?” He repeats absent-mindedly.

“He can live with me.” Zoro says again. “Ever since Kuina’s moved out, the rent’s a little too steep for just one person. He can split the burden.”

Usopp opens his mouth, and then closes it again. He wants to protest – Sanji’s _his_ best friend, after all! – but… what Nami said makes sense. He’s never been exactly on equal footing with Sanji, has he? It’d look almost like pity if Usopp forces Sanji to bunk with him.

Zoro, on the other hand…

Usopp doesn’t like this. He doesn’t like that he’s made useless when all he wants to do is help, but at least Zoro has a logical reason for getting Sanji to bunk with him. And, if it’s Zoro, it wouldn’t feel like pity, because Zoro doesn’t _do_ pity. Sanji should know that.

“Yeah, alright,” Usopp agrees. It only makes sense.

Luffy stares at Zoro for a while, before nodding his head. “Yosh, it’s settled! We’ll all help to move Sanji’s things to Zoro’s apartment tomorrow morning!”

Zoro catches Nami’s gaze and shrugs.

Let it not be said that Roronoa Zoro doesn’t help a friend in need. He and Sanji _were_ ultimately friends, after all.

Zoro ignores the rest of the probing stares and settles into a nearby chair. Tomorrow could not come soon enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's Trafalgar Law - one of my favourite characters in the series, to be honest. To those who haven't read the latest chapter, it's not really a spoiler, but I really really loved Brook's speech there. He's a character that can be rather overlooked and I loved what Oda did with him in the latest chapter! 
> 
> From here on each chapter would focus on a certain set of characters each time, rather than having the whole crew interacting at any one point in time. Don't worry, that doesn't mean that some of them wouldn't be featured at all - they are all important, and I'll try my best not to leave anyone out! 
> 
> Anyway, thank you so much for reading this so far. As far as romances go it'll be a long ride, but I hope it'll be a fun one!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think this is obvious enough from the way things are going, but this is going to be a rather slow-moving story that centers on characters and character relationships and development. There also won't be any smut, because I'm just not all that comfortable with writing that! I'm also hoping to write longer chapters, but we'll see how that goes.
> 
> Anyway, here's the new chapter! Hope you enjoy!

**Chapter Four**

 

 

 

“A soufflé for you, my sweetest?” Sanji smiled, twirling around as he placed the plate onto the dining table. “Served piping hot and creamy smooth– just as you are.”

“Thank you, Sanji-kun!” His girlfriend beamed, leaning over the dish and closing her eyes as she inhaled it in. “Mm, it smells amazing!”

“Nothing short of the best for you, my dear!” The blond settled himself down on the seat beside her. “Please, take a bite.”

Pudding pushed back a tendril of hair creeping over her face, and then scooped a small spoonful of the dessert. The moment the spoon entered her mouth, she let out a long, blissful sigh. “It tastes perfect, Sanji-kun!” As Sanji wriggled excitedly in his seat, she took another larger bite. “I can’t get enough of it!”

“Just like I can’t get enough of you!” The blond answered immediately, and then drifted off to a dopey smile as he rested his chin on his palm and stared at his girlfriend. “What did I ever do to deserve an angel like you in my life?” His cheek ached so much – he simply couldn’t stop smiling! Pudding was amazing. She was perfect – no, better than perfect! The word ‘perfect’ was created in an attempt to describe her, but even that word fell short!

Pudding was kind, and gentle, and warm, and pretty. She adored making pastries almost as much as he loved to cook, and the curve of her waist seemed crafted just to fit perfectly into the groove of his palm. Her hair fell over her shoulders like a waterfall of the sweetest, most decadent chocolate, and her eyes – _oh,_ her eyes! Her eyes were gemstones of the brightest, most polished topaz; his heart stuttered at her every gaze, his chest swelled at the push of her plump, pink lips, and the breath seemed to be ripped right out of his lungs whenever she laughed that beautiful melody of hers. She was the Sun to which he gravitated towards – she was his air, his light, his song, his life. He didn’t know what he’d ever do without her.

“Stop staring at me!” Pudding giggled, looking away as pink crept up her neck and blossomed in the apples of her cheeks.

“I’m sorry, I can’t help it. You’re the brightest thing in my life, and I can’t seem to pull away from you.” He answered honestly. His world had never seemed brighter – every day was a gift hand-wrapped and given to him by her and he still couldn’t believe how, of everybody on earth, _he_ had been the one she’d deigned to give her affections to. Every time she messaged him, called him, every day she dropped by his restaurant and smiled at him, it felt almost… almost too good to be true. His heart was full to bursting, and he knew that no matter what he did, no matter how hard he tried and how much of his affections he poured onto her, he’d never be able to make her as happy as she’d made him.

“Don’t say that!” She laughed again, but leaned over and pressed her lips to his cheeks. Yes, yes, she was the best thing that had ever happened to him, and now he knew exactly why he was placed on earth. He was born to serve her, to heed her every need, to cater to her every whim – he existed solely for her, and he’d gladly do anything and everything that she requested from him. She was his world – and maybe it was time for the light of his life to meet the rest of the important people in his life.

“Do you want to meet my friends tonight?” He asked, his heart thundering in his chest. It had only been a week – how could he love her so much, when they’d only been together a week? It was just a simple question, yet it felt like his entire happiness hinged upon her answer.

Pudding clapped her hands together, eyes wide. “Of course, I’d love to!” She exclaimed, and suddenly it felt like Sanji’s world had turned around and he was soaring through the skies, reaching out for the sole light that brightened up his life.

He had loved Pudding so, _so_ much. He only hoped his friends did as well.

 

 

 

Zoro sighs, leaning back against his ratty armchair and taking a swig of his beer. He’s placed the blond in Kuina’s old bedroom, tucked him in and cranked the heater up high, and now that the havoc of the morning has passed, he wonders once again _why_ he had offered his apartment in the first place.

It’s true, finances have been getting tight without another person sharing in the rent – but surely that’s not all of it.

He remembers hearing the cook murmur ‘Pudding’ under his breath, and Zoro chugs down the rest of his beer and crushes the can in a fist.

He doesn’t know the woman well, but his blood seethes at the very thought of her, and it is only then he realises the true reason as to why he’d offered up his apartment for the blond. Pity… no, _sympathy._ He’d felt bad. The blond, no matter how infuriating he is, doesn’t deserve this. No one deserves this. No one deserves to pour their heart and soul into someone, only to have their heart ripped out on what was supposed to be the happiest day of their life, _and_ made bankrupt and homeless in that very same span of hours.

He thinks back about the months leading up to the wedding, how happy the blond had been. How he’d opened up his restaurant for a food-tasting session and laughed through all of Luffy’s antics, how he’d given Zoro free reign of his liquor cabinets and how he had sat there the whole day, his eyes alight with joy and his smile seemingly carved into his skin. How the cook had dragged all the guys out for suits, how he had tried to tame Usopp’s unruly curls with so much hair gel that when he had finally given up and ran his hand through his _own_ hair in exasperation, he ended up gelling his _own_ hair up, and the way his hair had stuck up coupled with that bang that covered his one eye had made him look like some wannabe punk star. Franky had immediately began snapping photos and posting it on Facebook and in their group chats before Sanji had had the chance to stop him, and then Luffy had thought it was some hair gelling competition and began to lather _his_ own hair in the hair gel as well. And then Usopp had tackled Chopper with his sticky hands, and Franky was laughing and still snapping photos and Brook was laughing that infectious laughter of his and Zoro had just been standing as far away from the mess as possible, when Luffy saw him and pounced on him.

The subsequent crash had caused them to be kicked out of the store. The cook was fuming, of course, but he had been laughing too. It was difficult to find another store after that, because they’d made such a ruckus that all the other tailors had shut their doors whenever they even came near, and so they had to make do with altering second-hand suits from the shady store near Franky’s apartment.

Zoro pushes himself off his chair and moves towards Kuina’s old bedroom, hesitating at the door before forcing himself to step in. The blond still looked cold – but he always looked cold, didn’t he? The cook always hunched himself inwards, made his narrow shoulders look even smaller, and slouched his back so that he was shorter than he actually was. The cook always looked somewhat fragile, but now that this time around he actually _is_ , Zoro doesn’t know what to do.

He moves towards the bed slowly, and then places a palm on the blond’s exposed arm. He’s not cold and shivering anymore, but Zoro still feels the urge to reach out and hug him. For all the things that has happened to him, for all that he hadn’t deserved and for all that he _does_.

“Z-Zoro?” Zoro jerks his hand back just as Sanji’s eye flutters open, and then the blond blinks blearily as he looks around the room. “W-Where am I?”

“My apartment.” Zoro answers, though now he really wishes that Usopp and Luffy hadn’t gone back home so quick. He wonders if he should continue, but Sanji should know the truth of how they’d found him. There’s no point in hiding things from the blond. “You were found unconscious in an alley by a doctor, and the doctor called Usopp.”

Sanji stares at him like he doesn’t know what he’s talking about, until slowly his realisation manifests in a trickle of red that crawls up the blond’s neck. “Oh.”

The conversation staggers to a halt, and after a moment Zoro forces himself to break it. “… You didn’t have to avoid us, you know.” He states stoically. He doesn’t often show much care or concern to anyone, much less the blond, and the blond just stares at him blankly, so Zoro decides to continue. “It isn’t your fault.”

It’s the first time Sanji’s been so quiet with him. The blond stares down at a loose thread unravelling at the edge of his duvet. Zoro nearly turns to leave when the cook finally speaks again. “… I guess I should be leaving soon. T-Thank you for your hospitality, I -”

Wait, what? Zoro storms towards the bedside, pushing the cook back down into the bed just as the blond begins to rise. “You’re staying here.”

“I’m fine now, so there’s no need for me to stay here any longer.” The blond continues in a hard voice, all the while refusing to look at Zoro in the eyes. “I won’t be bothering you anymore –”

“You’re going to be staying here. With me.” He cuts off.

“Are you pitying me now? Is that it?” The blond snaps, finally jerking his head up to look at Zoro. The eyes that meet his are dark and stormy, but Zoro sees the uncertainty hovering in the blond’s expression. “So I got left at the altar. And got cheated of all my money. I still don’t need your pity.” The cook spits out, but there’s no anger that rises back in retaliation in Zoro. Sanji’s jaws are locked tight and his eyes are flared wide open, but it doesn’t matter. Zoro sees right through him.

“You’re homeless now.” He answers back calmly. “You need a place of residence, and I need a roommate.”

 _So here we are now_ , Zoro leaves those words unspoken. Sanji stares at the man, unblinking.

And then he says, “I can’t help you with that.”

“You can, and you will.” Zoro sits himself down at the edge of the bed, effectively blocking Sanji’s escape path as he uses his weight to pin down the duvet that Sanji’s lying under. “Look, I don’t do pity. You know that. Right now, we’re just friends who need each other’s help. There’s nothing more to it.”

“You don’t leave me with much choice.” The blond gestures as his blocked position. Zoro doesn’t reply. If he doesn’t get Sanji to stay, the blond would only tunnel deeper into himself. The man keeps his secrets deep, and his problems even deeper. This time around, if Zoro loses him… well, they might never get him back.

A sigh loosens the blond’s lips. “I’d prefer to stay with Usopp, you know.”

“I know.”

“… I wasn’t running away from you guys. I just needed some time on my own.”

“I know.”

A longer pause, and then, in a softer voice, “It isn’t her fault.”

Zoro doesn’t reply that one. It’s clear what Sanji has been doing all this while – he had probably been trying to seek Pudding out, trying to understand her actions, trying to find excuses for what she had done.

It’s a dead path, that Sanji’s trying to walk. Zoro knows that for sure, but he doesn’t voice it out. He doesn’t say anything, for now.

As long as he manages to get Sanji to stay here with him, he considers that a win. The rest can come afterward.

It’s barely a breath out the blond’s lips, but Zoro hears it anyway.

“Thanks, Zoro.”

 

 

 

“Drink up, drink up!” Nami yelled. Scattered beer cans littered the floor of Luffy and Usopp’s apartment, and Franky chugged down his beer just as Zoro guzzled down his from the other side.

Franky threw his beer can across the room when he finished. “I’m done!” He declared, at the same time that Zoro tipped his beer can upside-down.

“I’m done over here too.”

“You guys are monsters.” Usopp commented, wriggling his nose. Franky let loose a loud belch, and Usopp cringed. “Is this seriously how you want to look like to Sanji’s new girlfriend?”

“What’s wrong with what we look like?” Zoro answered, letting a belch to rival Franky’s thunderous one. “Is how we’re like all the time.”

“It’s alright, Usopp-san,” Pudding replied, chuckling into her hand. “It’s quite fun. I’ve never really partied like this before.”

“Well, it ain’t a party till you’re drunk and dancing!” Franky shouted, and then announced, “Super~! It’s time to dance!”

“Yeah!” Luffy screamed, bouncing on his toes as Nami cranked up the music. “Let’s go, Pudding!” Luffy grabbed the girl by her hand, pulling her up to her feet. “You know how to dance, don’t you?”

“Um, I-I’m not a very good dancer…” She answered, looking everywhere but at Luffy.

“Luffy, let her go! She’s not an uncultured swine like you!” Sanji’s voice carried from over the kitchen, and before Luffy could even turn Sanji had yanked Pudding’s hands from Luffy’s hold. “My dearest, I’m sorry for how these shitty brutes are treating you! I can escort you to a safer location, if you wish?”

“S-Sure,” Pudding gave a nervous laugh. “Thank you, Sanji-kun.”

“Eh, that’s no fun!” Luffy whined, pulling a face. “How’re we to get to know her if she’s not gonna even dance with us?”

“Yeah, Sanji! That’s not fun!” Usopp and Chopper chimed in from where they stood.

“Isn’t the whole point of the gathering to get to know Pudding?” Usopp asked, placing his face as close as he dared to that of the blond’s. “If you won’t let her interact with us without interference, then how are we gonna get to know her?”

“Well, then mind your damn manners before you go off trying to get her to guzzle down beer like that marimo-head or dancing your ridiculous dances!” Sanji retorted, and then turned back to Pudding. “My dearest, once again I am sorry for subjecting you to this. Their antics, while boorish, are really quite tolerable after a while! Unfortunately, there’s only so much manners I can kick into them before they reach their limit.”

“It’s okay, Sanji-kun! You can just have fun with them. I’m alright on my own.” The brunette assured hastily, setting herself back down in her usual seat. “Your friends are rather… outgoing, aren’t they?”

“My lady, we could leave no if you wish! I only wished for you to meet my friends – and now that you have, we don’t have to stay here any longer!” Sanji kept his earnest gaze locked on hers.

“Well,” The woman gave a small smile. “I didn’t realise that your friends would be this sort of people. I mean, not that they aren’t nice and all!” She held up her hands hastily, gaze averting away from Sanji’s as she looked at something on the ground. “I just thought… given your…”

“Given my what, my princess?”

“… You just seemed to have a more refined upbringing than this, that’s all.” Sanji could tell that Pudding hadn’t expressed what she had really wanted to say, but he wouldn’t force her if she didn’t wish to speak.

“Ah, on the contrary,” Sanji sat down beside her, staring at the rest of his friends fondly as they danced around the living room. Robin had managed to pull herself out of the mess and was now lounging on the other armchair with a glass of red wine in hand, and when she met Sanji’s gaze, she tilted her head and gave a small smile. Sanji beamed back, before turning his gaze back to the group. “This is what I’m most used to, and what I prefer.”

Luffy was practically screaming the lyrics of Bink’s Sake as he bounced around the room, hooking arms with Usopp and Chopper as he did. Franky was laughing hard at something – presumably something _super_ that he had said – and clapping Zoro on the back, with the marimo smirking slightly as he crossed his arms. Brook had leaned over Robin’s shoulder, whispering something in her ear that made her eyebrows rise and her lips dance to fight a chuckle. Nami had disappeared – presumably to the bathroom.

“Their antics, while foolish and goofy at times, are so pure and genuine with unbridled freedom and joy that I honestly couldn’t ask for more.” Sanji finally turned back to look at Pudding, who was staring at him with her brows drawn. “I apologise for their antics – especially towards such a refined woman such as yourself! – but I honestly do think that more people should be like them.”

“Freedom…” Pudding repeated, her gaze drifting back to the motley crew of friends in front of her. “I never thought to see them that way.”

“Sanji! Come and dance with us!” Luffy’s face blossomed into existence right in front of him, and Sanji shoved the rubbery boy’s face away from his as Luffy pouted and whined. “Come on~ Sanji! You usually dance around with us!”

“Do you not see that we have an honoured guest around, you shitty rubber?” Sanji growled, successfully shoving Luffy away. Then suddenly, twirling around, he bowed down towards Pudding. “Ah, my love! My sun! My flower! Let me whisk you away into the throes of passion, of a burning dance that –”

“Okay.”

“— and our love… eh, what?”

“Alright.” Pudding smiled, getting up to her feet and taking Sanji’s proffered hand. “I’m sorry. I might have judged your friends too hastily. I don’t mind dancing now.”

As salsa music blasted out the speakers, Luffy and Usopp partnered up while Franky pulled Brook into the makeshift dancefloor that is their living room area. Sanji held Pudding close, grinning.

“Thank you so much, my love.”

“It’s the least I could do.” She answered. “For my boyfriend’s friends.”

As Sanji began squirming and doing his wiggly dance, Robin placed her wineglass onto the countertop just as Nami returned from the washroom and sunk into the seat near hers.

“So… Pudding, huh.” Nami commented, leaning back. “I don’t really know what to make of her so far. She seems… nice.”

“Indeed.” Robin answered, smile disappearing as she considered the brunette. Pudding was laughing as Sanji spun her around – at the very least, she seemed like she genuinely _liked_ Sanji. All of Sanji’s partners thus far had been rather… shady, and Pudding seemed decent compared to them. “Perhaps Sanji has really found his own happiness.”

“I hope so. Sanji-kun deserves so much more than he had been given from all of his other partners so far.” And then Nami let out a laugh. “But remember Gin? Oh my god, he was so _smitten_ with Sanji-kun but it took Sanji-kun _years_ to even realise it! It’s a shame he got put behind bars for being found to be associated with Don Krieg. He could’ve made a good partner for Sanji.”

“Sanji does seem to fare slightly better with men than with women.” Robin agreed. “But Gin had a lot of issues on his own, and that – combined with Sanji’s own – would potentially accumulate into a mountain of problems in their relationship at a later date.”

“Then what kind of a person do you think Sanji-kun needs in a relationship?” Nami grinned, leaning towards the older woman.

“I think that we probably have the same kind of person in mind, Nami.” Robin returned her smile.

“Someone grounded, definitely.” Nami said, and Robin nodded.

“He would need someone equal in strength to him as well.” The older woman contemplated. “Someone who is able to reassure him about his insecurities, or love him enough that it doesn’t really matter anymore.”

“Someone that’ll do things for him instead of it constantly being the other way around.”

The two women lapsed into silence as they stared at Pudding from across the room, and then Nami sighed.

“Or, I guess, he could have Pudding.” She shrugged. “She could be all that, too.”

Robin did not reply.

 


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Lunar New Year everyone! This came out a lot faster than expected, but here it is! The promised longer chapter, I hope you enjoy!

**Chapter Five**

 

 

The morning is chilly. Fog smears buildings into smudges of dull cream and grey, and the monotony of the early urban landscape is only broken by a single speck of red piercing through the layers of condensation in the air. The figure painted in red leaps into the air, its outline fuzzy, and then, from that distance, there’s a shout.

“Hey! Ace! Hey!!!!!!! Yoohoo!”

A man’s face splits into a grin as he moves out of the clear glass doors towards the blurry red. “Hey, Luffy!” He yells in return, swinging his arm in an arc above his head.

The blob of red barrels towards the man, and only a face full of smile is seen before the red launches himself at the man in a bone-crushing hug. “I’ve missed you! Where have you been!”

“Here and there,” Ace answers in a non-committal tone as he lets go of the smaller man. “So, how have you been?” He places his hands on the younger boy’s cheeks, prodding and pulling. “You seem… well-fed. I assume that’s Sanji’s doing?”

“Yeah! Sanji’s the best cook ever! He makes me all sorts of meat whenever I ask – and even when I don’t!” Luffy proclaims, his face aching from his wide grin. Then he pauses midway, and his face finally falls. “But… he’s not doing too well.”

Ace folds his arms across his chest, frowning. “Yeah, he can’t be, can he? After being dumped and cheated by that woman…” The older man’s voice stiffens, and then he lets out a deep sigh. “It’s not like we hadn’t seen this coming, what with Sanji and women.”

“It’s my fault.” Luffy hangs his head low, staring at his sandals. “I should’ve known there was something wrong with her! I’m usually good with things like that! And now I’ve let her go and hurt my friend!”

Ace wraps his hands over Luffy’s clenched fists. “Hey – hey! Luffy, listen to me.” When Luffy feels Ace’s stare boring into him, he finally lifts his head back up. Ace shakes his head slowly as he continues, “This is not your fault. Alright? It’s not your fault. And it’s not Nami’s or Usopp’s or Zoro’s or Robin’s or whoever else’s fault. And it’s not Sanji’s. It’s no one’s fault but that heinous woman’s and if there’s anything you know from this, it’s that she’s the one who came after Sanji with… with dishonesty in mind, and if there’s anyone to blame it’s her. Alright, Luffy? It’s not the victim’s fault, nor the victim’s friends’. Don’t you dare think otherwise.”

“I know it’s her fault!” Luffy yells, and then his tone softens as his head lowers back down again. “But… if only I had been more… alert! If only I had been more observant, if only I had…”

“Luffy!” Luffy jerks his head back up at his name. “Things aren’t as simple as you make it out to be. They usually aren’t. This turn of events? None of it – _none of it_ – has got anything to do with what you did or didn’t do. That woman was determined to cheat Sanji from the moment she had met him. It’s entirely about her, and her schemes, and her actions. Not yours, okay?” Ace knows how much Luffy takes this sort of things to heart – especially when they concern his friends – but sometimes, Luffy has a habit of taking things a little too hard. And he carries the blame all on his own.

Like when Ace had gotten himself caught in a burning building when he had gone in after Luffy, who had been trying to save a young girl from the flames. He had fallen unconscious from the fumes, and apparently, the fire had gotten to him. The scars from the third-degree burns still mar parts of his face, his neck, down his collarbone to an entire stretch of his torso – the midpart of his torso still left the darkest, deepest scars, where a burning pillar had smashed atop of it.

That hadn’t been Luffy’s fault. Luffy was trying to do his job – both of their jobs, in fact – and Ace had needlessly gone in. The blame laid entirely on himself, yet Luffy still carried a part of it with him.

It’s actually quite hypocritical for Ace to chide Luffy like this, considering how he had reacted when his childhood friend Sabo had disappeared one night, but he has to do what an older brother has to do – hypocrisies aside. When Luffy finally nods his head back at Ace’s words, Ace allows himself to smile.

Slinging an arm around Luffy’s shoulders, Ace says, “So, what do you feel like eating today?”

Luffy’s face lightens up. “Meat!”

 

 

 

Law leans back against the chair and finds himself staring out the window. It’s a quaint little coffee shop he has situated himself in, and he had managed to snuggle himself into one of the cosy, isolated corner tables. He’s seated facing the rest of the shop, which is empty at this time of day. It’s no wonder – it’s so foggy outside that he might as well be staring into a plain white wall. There’s nothing to be seen aside from blurry blobs of colours, and then again most of them are white and creams and greys that he’d find better joy in staring down at his half-empty cup of cappuccino.

It’s one of his few off-days from work, and he doesn’t really know what to do with it. There’s a notebook opened on the table, a few lines of words scribbled on it, but nothing else. He stares at the clock hanging from the other side of the room, and then gets up.

Law orders another cup of cappuccino from the counter. The pretty blue-haired girl bobs her head at him, rattling his order with a bright smile – a smile entirely too bright for the gloomy morning – and he returns back to his seat with his food. Before he can even settle in comfortably on the hardwood chairs, the bells ring as the door to the coffee shop swings open.

“Vivi!” It’s a cheery blast of voice that pierces the silence of the coffee shop, and then the slapping of sandals against the floor. “How have you been! I want meat! A lot of it! Oh right, guess who’s back! Ace!”

That voice somehow tingles a memory in the back of his mind, and it’s only until the voice materialises into a human body that he remembers. For how could he not recognise that red sweater, sandals, and straw-hat combination – especially when it’s in the winter?

Another man appears behind the straw-hat boy, his hand held up in a greeting. “Hey, Vivi.” He says, an easy smile forming on his face. That man is carelessly handsome, with loose strands of dark hair falling over his eyes and a splatter of freckles across his nose. His skin is tanned, but even just from his face Law can see the darker marks left behind by scars. The doctor frowns at the marks. The scars seemed to be scars from rather serious burns – they span his right cheek down to his chin.

“Hi Luffy!” The girl answers chirpily, and then she turns to face the other man. Her smile is still bright, her voice still chirpy, but there’s something a little subdued in the way she addresses the older man. “Hi Ace.”

“Hey! What’s your biggest, meatiest breakfast? Give me your biggest, meatiest breakfast!” Luffy demands, and the girl laughs.

“I’ll have you down for the Ultra-Deluxe Breakfast special, alright?” She turns her attention to the other guy, “And you, too?”

“Of course!”

“Let me pass your order down to the kitchen, then.” She says before walking into the kitchen.

“Vivi seems happy, doesn’t she!” As Luffy begins chattering to his friend, Law shifts his attention away from the man and to his drink.

Just as he begins drinking his coffee, the conversation between Luffy and Ace breaks, and Law finds himself looking up, to see Luffy staring straight at him.

“Hey! You!” Luffy calls out, and Law’s shocked. He didn’t expect the guy to remember – much less recognise – him. “Um… T-Turio? No, um… ah, I know! Torao!”

Without invitation, the straw-hat man begins bounding up to him, with his friend in tow, and Law places the cup back onto the table. “Torao!”

“Torao?” The older man looks at Luffy, frowning, and Luffy nods excitedly.

“Yeah, this is Torao! Oh, I haven’t told you about him yet! He was the one who found Sanji and treated him!”

“… What do you mean, _found_ Sanji?” The older man questions carefully, and Luffy jumps to reply.

“Well, Sanji was found hypo… hypother… okay, I don’t know the word, but he was found frozen on the streets ‘cause he was being an idiot and didn’t want to return home! So Torao found him, treated him, and called Usopp!”

Ace’s eyes widen, and then suddenly the older man rushes forward to grab Law’s hands in his own. Law tries to pull away, but the man is frighteningly strong.

“I didn’t know that! Thank you so much for saving our friend’s life! We owe you a debt!” The sincerity in the man’s words cause Law to stop fighting his grasp, and then the man gives him a deep bow. “We will never forget what you have done!”

“Uh… you’re welcome.” He says, and the man lets go of his hands.

“And Luffy!” The older man turns abruptly to face the straw-hat boy. “You wait until _now_ to tell me that?”

Luffy scratches the back of his neck sheepishly. “Sorry.” And then turns his attention back on Law. “What a coincidence! What are you doing here?”

Law lifts up his notebook in response.

“Ah, I see! You’re a writer?”

“I’ve told you this before, but I’m a doctor.” Law’s starting to get a little annoyed. Luffy’s bubbliness and chirpiness – this early in the morning – riles up something inside him.

“Luffy, let’s just let the man be in peace, alright?” Ace says, half-dragging Luffy away, but Luffy plants his heels into the ground.

“Hey, Torao, give me your phone number!”

“What?” The doctor stares at the straw-hat boy. “No.”

“Why not! Just give it to me already!”

“Luffy, let’s not bother him already –”

“But I want to invite him over to thank him! He saved Sanji’s life, Ace!” And just like that, Ace changes his mind.

“Yeah, Torao, we gotta invite you over for dinner someday!” Ace insists, now pulling Luffy back to the table and surrounding the poor doctor.

“Yeah, Torao, give us your number already! We’ll text you the details of when and where! You gave us our friend back - we gotta thank you properly!” Luffy agrees fervently.

“Please, the best you can do for me now is leave me alone.” Law states, but the brothers don’t take it for an answer, until Ace realises something.

Snatching Law’s phone from the table, he dials his own number on it while the frenzied doctor tries to pry his strong fingers off the phone. “Alright, got it!” Ace holds up his own phone while letting go of Law’s, and Law only _just_ manages to catch his phone as it begins to plummet towards the ground.

“Your food is coming – hey! Luffy, Ace, what are you doing?” Vivi screeches.

“Nothing!” The two brothers yell, their voices resounding in the coffee shop.

Law shoves the notebook into his bag, downs his hot coffee, and hastily leaves the coffee shop.

This is not how he anticipated spending his morning.

 

 

 

“It’s a road trip!” Luffy had announced one summer day, and so suddenly, just like that, it was.

Almost half the crew at the time had been in a relationship – Zoro was with Kuina, Nami was with Paulie, and Usopp was with Kaya. It had been a while since they’d all hung out together as one big group, and when Luffy had made the decision to have a road trip – well, that was it. There was a road trip, they were all pulled into it – sans relationship partners – and finally, in a long time, the crew was whole once again.

They had split into two cars, with Franky driving one of them with Usopp, Robin, Nami, and Chopper, while Sanji had volunteered to drive the other despite having had a full shift the day before, with Luffy, Zoro, Brook on his car.

“I call shotgun!” Luffy announced, launching himself at the door and stuffing himself into the seat before anyone could say anything else.

Zoro shrugged at Brook, and the two of them piled into the backseat as Sanji went into the driver’s seat.

“Shotgun picks the music!” Luffy decided again, and before he could hear any protests he inserted his CD into the player.

Luffy had always had an… odd music taste. They ranged from screeching EDM tracks, to traditional Chinese opera music and Korean trot tracks, and then to hard metal and bubble-gum pop. No one knew what to expect when Luffy popped one of his many CDs, and _all_ of them had had the misfortune of listening to one before.

After all, what Luffy wanted – he got.

The moment the sound of plucking strings came on, they all knew what it was: Chinese opera music, then.

“Why not,” Sanji hastily popped the CD back out, “We just talk? That’s the whole point of this trip, right, Luffy?”

“Oh right, yeah!” Luffy stuffed the CD back into its case. “I saw Vivi the other day!”

“Oh, Vivi-chwan~!”

“Now you’ve got the love-cook all worked up.” Grunted Zoro from the back.

“Yohohoho! It’s been a long while since I’ve last seen Vivi-san! And how is the beautiful heiress doing, I wonder?”

“She looks happy! She says she wants to open a coffee shop or something – wants to try her hand at building something from scratch without her parent’s money! I hope there’s gonna be meat at her coffee shop – that’ll make it the best coffee shop in the world!”

“Ah, Vivi-chwan, how noble, how honourable! The angel of my dreams, the star of –”

“I would love to see her again.” Brook said thoughtfully. “I wonder if she would allow me to see her panties.”

“Shut up, you pervert!” Sanji screeched from the front seat, but his nostrils were flared and his mouth hung open in a dopey smile.

“Says the pervert,” Muttered Zoro under his breath. In a louder voice, he said, “Vivi, huh? It’s been a while since we saw her.”

“Yeah!” Luffy chimed in. “She asked about all of us! I said that we weren’t spending as much time together now, because all of you have got your own girlfriends or boyfriends or whatever to bother with.”

“Zoro-san, how are things with Kuina-san?” Brook fixed that slightly-eerie gaze on Zoro. “Have you seen her panties?”

“W-what?” Zoro sputtered, pink dusting his cheeks. “Don’t say things like that, you pervert!”

“Ha, ha, Zoro is red all over! Red and green, like Christmas!” Luffy twisted around to laugh at Zoro in the backseat. “This calls for a photo!” And before Zoro could even contain himself, Luffy had produced his phone and snapped a shot of him in the backseat. “Christmas… Zoro…” He recited as he typed his message and sent the photo to their group chat.

The replies came immediately.

“Nami said she thinks you look cute!” Luffy roared with laughter, while Zoro resolutely ignored the redness in his cheeks while staring out the window.

“What? Nami-swan thinks that this marimo idiot is _cute_?” Sanji gave Zoro an affronted glare, to which Zoro pointedly ignored.

“Yohohoho, I think she is quite right! What young, innocent love.” A wistful look came over Brook’s features. “I wonder how her panties would look.”

“Don’t fantasise about my girlfriend’s underwear!” Zoro yelled. “Don’t talk about my girlfriend’s underwear! Just – don’t talk about _any_ form of underwear from now on, okay!”

At the dopey look that possessed Sanji’s features again, Zoro kicked the blond in his seat. “ _Don’t_!”

“Sorry, sorry,” Sanji hastened to apologise, but the dreamy look still remained. Zoro slumped back in his seat, defeated. Why he ever chose to sit in the same car as these perverts, he’d never know.

And then he recalled that the other car had Franky as a driver – which, frankly speaking, was equally perverted… just in other possibly more disturbing ways. And then he realised how he had no choice in the first place because all of the choices led to equally disturbing consequences, and let out a long sigh.

This was going to be a long ride.

“Anyway guys! I was thinking we could first have a meat feast on the beach, then we’ll play some games, and then we’ll have a meat dinner on the beach, and then –”

That went on for about ten more minutes.

“And finally some meat dessert! On the beach! Doesn’t that sound amazing?”

“That sounds like a heart attack waiting to happen.” Sanji answered, deadpan.

“I know you could do it! Thanks, Sanji!” Luffy cheered, even though the blond technically hadn’t agreed to it. But they all knew that he would, anyway.

That was just how Sanji was.

“Sanji-san, how is the restaurant doing?”

Sanji had recently opened his own restaurant – a sister restaurant of sorts to his godfather’s _Baratie_ – and while it had opened to raving reviews from renowned chefs and food connoisseurs alike, the hype and crowd it had garnered in its earlier months had died down. Now it was time to make larger steps in securing a customer base, and Sanji had been discussing marketing strategies with Nami and Usopp for a while now.

“It’s okay, I suppose.” Sanji answered. “Terracotta’s been handling the kitchen pretty well, so there’s no worries in that department. Right now, we’re just mainly working on marketing strategies.”

“Hey Sanji! Maybe we can help with that! You know I’ve got a lot of friends who can help!”

“Yes, Luffy, but I don’t think I can afford to feed all ten thousand of your friends for free.”

“Sanji-san! Perhaps I could play a musical piece that would draw the crowd to your restaurant! Or Zoro could put on a display of swordsmanship –”

“It’s called _kendo_ , and it’s an art-form. It’s not meant for such petty –” Brook ignored Zoro’s objections as he ploughed on.

“—entertainment and good food, I think you should be able to draw in a crowd!”

“Thanks, Brook, but we need more sustainable marketing strategies right now.” Sanji answered. “Anyway, back to our previous topic. Oi marimo, so how are you treating Kuina? Are you treating her right? You surely aren’t still _duelling_ with her, are you? A lady ought to be treated with greater respect than that!”

“What I do with her is none of your business!” Zoro barked. “Also, who are _you_ to say how a lady ought to be treated like? As far as I know…” A smirk pulled at the corner of his lips. “Aren’t _you_ the single one, and _I_ the one who actually has a girlfriend?”

Sanji sputtered at that, red crawling up his neck. “W-Well – it’s not like I can’t if I didn’t want to –”

“Sanji’s turning red now!” Luffy announced, whipping out his phone and snapping a quick picture before Sanji could respond once again.

At the cacophony of ‘ _pings_ ’ that follow, Sanji could only imagine what kind of responses the others are cooking up at his photo.

“Ooh! Usopp’s got the best one! He said you looked like a lobster set on a grill!” Luffy cackled loudly, with Brook yohoho-ing behind him.

“I must say, this brings back memories of Nami’s bet.” Brook said. “I wonder who would win the bet, in the end.”

Luffy jerked his head around so fast it looked as though his head might have snapped. “I’m the one who’s going to win the bet!” He declared.

“But you first have to get _married_ in order to win the bet, since you voted for yourself.” Zoro grinned, “You aren’t even close to having a partner yet, much less getting married.”

“What about you, Zoro-san?” Brook’s smirk was hidden by the shadows that fell onto his face. “Out of the four of us, it seems that _you_ are the only one well on your way to the endgame.”

“Ooh! Is Zoro gonna marry Kuina soon?” Luffy peered at Zoro’s expression, thoughts about being the winner of the bet all but forgotten. “I want to be your best man!”

“Shut up Luffy! No one said anything about marrying her!” Zoro stared determinedly out the window, “Besides, we’ve only been together three months.”

“So, what you’re saying is… you don’t think you can win the bet?” Sanji finally joined back the conversation, and Zoro caught sight of the mischievous smirk playing on the cook’s lips from the mirror.

“If I were to marry her,” He answered, folding his arms across his chest. “It’s not going to be because of a bet.”

“Then what is it going to be about?” Luffy craned his head to the side so much so that his head was nearly parallel to the ground. “Is it going to be about meat? Does Kuina own a lot of meat? OH! Does she have a warehouse full of meat???”

“Shut up, you rubbery idiot. That marimo isn’t as meat-crazed as you.” Sanji pushed Luffy’s head, which was inching precariously close to the driver’s seat, back into his own space. “Is it gonna be about love then?” Sanji cocked an eyebrow, directing the question back to Zoro. “You ought to be on National Geographic – headline: ‘Even mosses can find love’”.

“Yohohoho! I, for one, think that a marriage without love, isn’t a marriage to begin with.” Brook clasped his fingers together, staring out the window. Night had fallen, and the splatter of stars that enveloped the sky was all that was left to light up the dark. “You know, I was nearly married, once.”

“You were?” The other three gasped in unison, wide eyes turned to face the old musician.

“Ah, indeed I was.” Brook’s voice fell into the soft, peaceful, nostalgic lull that he always used when he told his stories of the past. “She was the most beautiful woman I had ever met. Kind, strong, brave – and _so_ tenacious. I think I was in love with her before I even knew it. We were both part of the same travelling musician troupe – The Rumbar Group – and there was a strict no-dating policy. But we did, in secret, and it was wonderful. The music we created was the best I’ve ever made, and it lifted the entire troupe up, elevated the orchestra to a whole new level.”

Zoro could see Brook’s wistful smile from the reflection in the mirror. “What happened then?”

“Ah. Well, I proposed. After three months, I think. I knew that she was the one from the moment I heard the magic that our music had weaved together, and once I knew – well, there was no need to wait. She’d accepted, and we both left the troupe. Unfortunately, she passed away a month before our wedding from a chronic illness.”

Crickets chirped in the background, beyond their closed windows. The wind howled as it pushed through the gaps between trees.

The car had fallen silent.

Until, “Do you still love her?” Sanji asked. Brook smiled.

“Of course I do.” He unclasped his fingers and rested his elbow against the seat rest, placing his chin on his palm. “Some of my old friends ask me, ‘How can you still be in love with a woman who has been gone for so long?’. I ask them in return, ‘Are you still friends with the people who have passed away?’. I think the logic remains. Just because your friends are dead, doesn’t mean they cease to be your friend. The memories still remain. The emotions still remain. The bond still remains.” He let out a loose sigh. “I know I could let her go, if I wanted to. I know I can find someone else, in my life, who could still be ‘the one’ for me. I don’t believe in the concept of there being only one person for everyone – I think there are multiple people who can be a person’s soulmate, to varying degrees of compatibility. But I don’t see a need to find someone else. Having her – having had her once – is enough.”

“I don’t think there’ll be anyone who could replace all of you in my life, either.” Luffy answered.

“Me too,” Sanji agreed.

“… Yeah,” Zoro said, frowning slightly. What Brook described… did he feel that way, with Kuina? Did he know for certainty that she was ‘the one’? How would he know, anyway?

“Ah, Zoro-san, you do not need to think so much about it.” Brook said, soft enough that Sanji and Luffy wouldn’t be able to hear him. “You will know when the time comes. It took some time for me, too, to realise it. It doesn’t happen in an instant – you can’t force it.”

Zoro nodded his head. Love, huh? Of course one had to marry for love, but for that to happen…

Brook had his soulmate, but she was lost to him. How difficult – how _lucky_ – must one be, to find the partner, in the right moment, at the right time? How lucky must one be to have their party return their feelings, their sentiments, for it to be mutual? How difficult must it be, for that one person to enter another’s life in the right circumstance, in the right way, with the perfect set of characteristics that complement the other’s needs at that particular point in time?

Kuina wasn’t that for him. At least, not yet.

 

 

 

Crickets chirp in the dark of the night as the winds wail past opened windows. The night is pitch-black, and a handful of stars sputter in the sky.

It brings Zoro back, to that summer night. Where the world seems to have stilled, where time seems to be suspended – and where he had lost himself in thoughts about love.

Those thoughts return to him now. Kuina could have been the one for him, but she wasn’t. Under different situations, in a different time, he can easily imagine marrying her. If he had been younger perhaps, if the two of them hadn’t been so set in their ways – if there was space for them to grow and mould around one another – they could have stayed together. They could have been married by now.

But they aren’t, and Zoro doesn’t feel regretful about that.

His gaze lingers at the guest bedroom door. Marriage has to be about love, he still believes that. He can’t imagine spending his entire life, spending all of his waking hours and his nights with someone he didn’t love and respect. He can’t imagine faking it.

But apparently, Pudding could. Pudding had been ready to live her entire life as a lie for the sake of a few measly grands. What did marriage mean to her? What did _Sanji_ mean to her?

Sanji had wanted to marry her out of love, Zoro knows. What if the two of them had gotten married? What if Pudding hadn’t ever realised about Sanji’s estrangement from his family? What would have happened then?

Zoro shakes his head and storms back into his room. He’s been spending too much of his time consumed by thoughts about Pudding and the cook. It isn’t as though he’s shocked by the amount of concern he has for the cook – he cares about all of his friends equally – it’s just how much it’s been taking up his attention.

Zoro switches the lights off and forces himself to go to bed.

Behind the door to the guest bedroom, Sanji lies awake on his bed. He had heard Zoro’s footsteps up the stairs, had known how it had lingered in front of his door before the footsteps retreated into Zoro’s bedroom.

Sanji knows his friends are concerned, but there’s nothing to be concerned about. He’s alright. He’s fine.

He shoves down the thoughts that threaten to overwhelm his mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just in case I've offended anyone, I'm just going to say that I'm Chinese, and Chinese opera (or ge tai) music can indeed be rather... overwhelming, at times. And I personally do enjoy Korean Trot, but it really depends on my mood. I'm not dissing any of the music that Luffy enjoys here! It's just, a lot of these music really need the right time and atmosphere and mood to be enjoyed, at least in my opinion. 
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright it's been nearly a month and I had so much school work piling up a couple weeks ago that I literally had no time to write. Anyway, hope you guys enjoy this and please do leave reviews, thank you!

**Chapter Six**

 

Sanji knows the feeling of loneliness. He’s lived in it, cried in it, wallowed in it, drowned in it. It’s a murky depth that, once latched on, isn’t easy to push away.

Loneliness is an old friend he has tried to force away countless of times since childhood. And now, it welcomes him back into its dark embrace.

It comes in a whole package: self-loathing, anxiety, and detachment. First, he begins to wonder if there’s something inherently wrong with him, that makes it difficult for him to fit in. Something that pushes people away from him, some forcefield that wards off any, if all, friendly encounters and leaves him stewing in his own putrid personality. Because there has to be something wrong with him, if all the other people who have friends refuse to even look at him, much less speak to him.

He doesn’t know exactly what’s the thing that puts people off of him, but if asked, many answers come to mind. He’s too clingy. He cries too much. He can’t speak properly. He’s so awkward that all conversations cease at the very shadow of his appearance.

He’s just inherently hateable, somehow.

Next, he overthinks. He repeats the smallest of encounters over and over in his head, replays what he had done wrong and how the other party had reacted to him. He tries to see himself from the other party’s point of view, tries to dig into what’s so inherently hateable about himself; he shoves his claws in deep and pummels in without mercy.

He finds so much that it overwhelms himself sometimes.

He becomes overly anxious around others. He minds his actions, minds his words and minds his behaviours. He thinks through sentences five times before he stutters through them aloud, and he fixates on how others respond to certain keywords and scrutinises them over in his head every night when he lies in bed. Somehow, if he follows an exact protocol, a set list of rules and regulations and a pattern of apparently socially-acceptable responses, he’ll be able to befriend somebody. That’s what he deludes himself into thinking.

It never happens.

And then there comes the detachment. He lingers under the covers of his bed, under his table, in the shade of a tree. He curls into himself, and when he eventually grows to be taller than the other children he slouches and hunches his shoulders and tucks his chin to his chest and hides somewhere no one can see him.

He doesn’t need the rest of them, he convinces himself as he tucks his legs to his chest and presses his forehead against his knees. If they don’t want to be friends with him, then fine. He doesn’t need them. He doesn’t ever need them.

The Vinsmokes don’t need to depend on anybody.

He sinks deeper into the loneliness.

When he had found cooking, that loneliness seemed to disappear along with the smoke that rose from his charred dishes.

When he had found Zeff and joined the Baratie, he had finally found his place. The tendrils of bitter childhood that had still clung on to him loosened, considerably, as he quibbled with his fellow cooks, as he rose to the position of sous chef… as he finally grew up surrounded by friendly chatter and people he managed to call friends.

Those stubborn tendrils finally pulled away, peeled its vines off his brain and slunk away into somewhere dark and unknown when he had met Luffy and the others. And when he met Pudding, it seemed as though that childhood of his had never happened. Those days of mulling over monosyllabic responses were over.

The loneliness that had haunted his life had finally drifted away.

Now it returns, and this time it’s easier than before. It latches on easily, like magnet pulled to magnet. The vines find their place back to the scars they have left on his mind.

The venom sinks into his chest and the thoughts he hoped he had left behind re-emerge.

Why did she leave me? – he wonders, and the voices cackle.

 _Because it’s you. What, did you think you_ deserved _her? Did you think someone so hated like you could possibly find love?_

Did she ever love me? – his tears spill like ashes over his cheeks, and the voices become hard.

_Yes, she did – oh yes, you know she did. She always loved you - she always loved what you represented._

_She loved you for your money._

_Did you actually think you have anything else to offer?_

Had it all been just a farce? – he knows he’s sinking, he _feels_ himself drowning, but he can’t seem to stop the barrage of questions that attack his mind.

The voices become mocking.

_It could’ve been real, you know. It could’ve been real, if you had just stuck to the Vinsmoke name. Why did you leave? Did you think you were anything more than that?_

_You were only ever valid because you were a Vinsmoke. Why did you ever leave?_

_You are nothing now._

What’s wrong with me? – the motherlode of all questions.

The voices soften at this.

_I think you know._

He does.

_Everything._

 

“Sanji-san,” It had been hours into the drive, and both Luffy and Zoro had long drifted off to sleep.

“Yeah?” Sanji answered, even though he hadn’t expected Brook to still be awake. The older man stared at him for a moment.

“Let me drive. You’ve been driving long enough – you need a break.” The older man answered gently, resting a hand on Sanji’s shoulder.

“Nah, it’s alright.” Sanji replied. The sun was slowly beginning to rise, and he felt his eyelids drooping at the sight of it. “I’m fine. You should get back to sleep.”

“Ah, but I’ve slept enough, Sanji-san.” Brook smiled. “At least do this old man a favour, and let him have something to occupy himself with. It is rather boring, being seated back here with nothing else to do.”

Sanji hesitated, his instincts fighting a war inside of him.

“Sanji-san. It’s fine, let me take over.”

The blond sighed. “Sure.”

The road was empty, so it didn’t matter that Sanji had parked the car right in the middle of the road. The two of them exchanged positions, with Brook settling in the driver’s seat and Sanji tucking into the backseat.

“Tell me if you need a change.” Sanji said, trying to stifle his yawn.

“Of course,” Brook answered.

The sun rose as Sanji fell into a deep sleep.

 

 

“— don’t wake him!”

“He must’ve been sleep deprived.”

“Oh no, sleep deprivation is very serious! I should give him a check –”

“Just let him breathe, you guys!”

“Look! He’s waking!”

The first thing that assaulted his eyes was the sun. The blinding ball of fire that scorched his retinas and made him wince.

The next was Luffy’s face peering into his own.

“What the _fuck_ , Luffy?” Sanji jumped, immediately crashing against the side of the car. He winced, rubbing his head.

The next few things he saw were this: Franky’s gummy grin, Chopper’s wide eyes, Brook’s skeletal face poking in, the half-crescents of Robin’s beautiful smile, the affectionate tilt of Nami’s lips, and Usopp’s absurdly long nose.

Sanji frowned. There seemed to be someone missing.

“Get your bony ass off of me!” After Sanji was physically lifted (the top of his head crashed into the roof of the car) and thrown off, it clicked.

 _Ah_ , the blond thought stoically. It was Zoro.

“Yohohoho! I saw you fast asleep and didn’t wish to wake you.” The old man was the first to greet Sanji as the cook stepped out of the car, squinting against the blinding light and absent-mindedly rubbing the top of his head.

“You could’ve at least stopped this rubbery idiot from pressing his face right up against mine.” Sanji grumbled, fishing for his crumpled cigarette pack in his pocket.

“Better than waking up to someone’s ass in your face.” Zoro growled from behind him, a palm raised to block the sunlight off his face.

“Fuck off,” Sanji quipped back, and then turned to Luffy. “Why the hell are we on a beach?”

“Because! It’s summer!” Luffy said, dancing around on the sand. “We should be at a beach on a summer day!”

“The sand is scorching the skin off my feet!” Usopp complained, hopping around, but unlike Luffy, his hopping around seemed to be a necessity.

“Well…” Luffy shot them a grin. “Last one to the water is a rotting duck!” With that, puffing up clouds of dust beneath his feet, he sprinted off.

“My eyes! My beautiful eyes!” Usopp wailed. “No, Chopper, don’t leave me! My eyes!”

“I’m sorry Usopp, but I don’t want to be a rotting duck!” The young med student said, pushing the long-nose’s arm off and dashing behind after Luffy.

“Ah, look at those idiots.” Nami pulled out her lounge chair (she somehow seemed to have correctly guessed Luffy’s end location) and settled herself in a cosy spot beneath the shade of the tree. “What are you doing, Robin?” She frowned as the older lady took off her sneakers.

“I don’t want to be a rotting duck.” The older woman shrugged, and then ran off, with Franky and Brook somewhere in front of her.

Sanji, Usopp and Zoro stared at one another.

Sanji and Zoro exchanged smirks.

“I don’t like the look on your face…” Usopp said, backing away cautiously, but before he could run away Sanji had blocked his retreat route, and Zoro stood in front of him. “Hey! L-Let me tell you, this is called bullying! I’m going to yell, and all of my 8000 followers are going to swarm up from the sea and – oi, wait! What are you doing – put me down!”

Zoro had hoisted Usopp over his shoulder, and Sanji had taken his feet. Together, they carried Usopp straight to the edge of the waters.

“Guys, you still have a chance! Put me down now and I’ll let you live! I’m a very magnanimous person – very kind, very kind indeed! Now, if you put me down now I won’t have you torn limb from limb by my followers!”

“I don’t know.” Sanji answered. “I rather like the thought of being torn limb from limb.”

“Y-you… You masochist!” Usopp gasped.

“And I’d like to see your 8000 followers in action.” Zoro grinned.

“No, you won’t like it! I swear! Just… let me go!! Let me go! Help!!! Luffy!!! Nami!!! Chopper!!!! Save me!!!!”

“They look like they’re having fun.” Brook commented, and Franky laughed.

“It must be the sun! Even I am feeling _super_ today!”

Zoro and Sanji threw Usopp into the water.

“AHHHH!!!!!!!!!!” The long-nose flailed about in the air before plummeting down into the water below.

“Who’s the last one in the water?” Luffy yelled, and then Zoro and Sanji exchanged glances.

Zoro had one foot in the water.

“Sanji is a rotting duck!”

“Ew, Sanji!” Chopper pinched his nose together and frowned. “You stink!”

“The rotting duck has to make all of our meat dishes!” Luffy announced.

“Why does that sound like it was tailor-made for me?” Sanji grumbled under his breath, and Luffy pointedly looked away, whistling awkwardly. The blond let out a long sigh. “I guess it’s time for me to make some grub, huh?”

“Thanks, Sanji!” They yelled from the water as the cook waded back to the blazing sand, moving towards the trunk of the car.

“Sanji-kun, come over here and keep me company!” He heard Nami’s voice from afar.

Spinning on his heels, he yelled, “Yes, Nami-swan, of course!” And in a blink of an eye, he had materialised by Nami’s side. “What do you need from me, my dear fairy?”

“A listening ear,” She answered, and then gestured to the rock beside her. “Sit.”

Sanji complied immediately.

“What do you think of Paulie?” She suddenly asked, and Sanji stared at her for a moment. “And be serious about it.”

The blond paused for a moment, staring out at the sea. Luffy was now being pushed underwater by Usopp, while Chopper tried to pull the long-nosed guy away from the rubbery idiot. Somewhere beside them, Franky had hoisted Robin up his shoulders and the two of them were engaging in a water battle with Brook, who was seated atop the shoulders of a very disgruntled-looking Zoro.

“He’s a good man.” Sanji finally answered, staring at Franky. Franky splashed around in the waters noisily, and even from this distance the blond could hear the blue-haired man’s roaring laughter echoing. While the man seemed rowdy and boisterous, he still kept Robin in a firm and secure grip on his shoulders.

Franky was a good man, and so were the people he worked with.

“He’s a good man, but he’s not good enough for you.”

“Why do you say that?” Nami asked, but she didn’t seem surprised by his answer. She took a slow sip of the homemade lemonade Sanji had brought for all of them.

“He is faithful, secure, dependable – steady. He’s like a rock… no, he’s like an anchor. He keeps you grounded.” Sanji turned to look at Nami’s profile. “But you’re not the type of person who should be kept grounded.”

“What do you mean?”

Sanji hesitated, searching for the right words. “You need someone who can match your energy… someone who can complement your wit. Paulie, I don’t think, meets those requirements.”

“Would that person be you, then?” Nami answered, finally turning to look at him with an undecipherable smile on her face.

The answer was immediate. “No, Nami-swan. You deserve someone better than me.”

“Why?” She asked, and with her staring at him so sincerely, Sanji found himself at a loss for what to say. Nami sighed. “Sanji-kun, you’re better than you think you are, you know?”

“I mean, I’m just not good – for you – and –”

“If I say that you’re good enough, then you’re good enough.” Nami stated firmly. “Sanji-kun, you bend yourself over backwards to serve everybody else – you constantly put others first and you never ever ask for anything in return. You’re the most selfless, generous, thoughtful, caring, the kindness person I have ever known. Don’t ever think otherwise, okay? Don’t you ever dare to sell yourself short like this again, alright?”

At Sanji’s silence, Nami poked him in the ribs. “Answer me!”

“… yes, Nami-swan.”

“Good. Now, you’d better remember that, because if I have to ever repeat it again, I’m going to charge you word for word, alright?”

Sanji nodded his head mutely, and the two of them return back to silence.

Now, Sanji stares at the message Nami has sent him. The message was sent two hours ago, and Sanji has been staring at it, has been reading those twenty words for the past two hours, has been perusing them so much he can recite them from memory.

_Remember what I told you back at the beach. You are better than you think you are, please remember this._

He lets out a shuddering breath. The claws sink deeper, and they refuse to let Nami’s words in. His finger hovers over the bin icon, and then, with an inhale of breath, he taps it.

The message blinks away into nothingness.

 

 

 

It’s been a week, and Sanji has barely uttered two words to Zoro, much less argued with him. The blond hasn’t gone back to work – Terracotta had called in a couple of times, but Sanji never picked up the phone.

It’s been a week too long. Even though everyone else tells Zoro to be patient with Sanji, he can’t take it anymore. Sanji has been moping around for way too long, and if he’s living in Zoro’s house, then the blond has got to deal with Zoro’s rules.

And one of Zoro’s newly constructed rules is this: No more moping around after one week.

After Zoro ends his shift and shrugs out of his police uniform, he storms over to Sanji’s room and slams the door with his fists. “Oi, cook, get your ass out here!”

When Sanji doesn’t reply, Zoro throws his body weight against the door, and the door flies open. There he sees the blond cuddled into a ball beneath the thick duvet – the only thing that showed signs of liveliness was strands of the blond’s hair fluttering softly in the slight breeze that Zoro had let in.

“Oi, didn’t you hear me? I said to get your ass off your bed!” Zoro yelled, ripping the duvet off of the cook and throwing it onto the floor.

“What the fuck do you want, marimo?” Sanji said with no bite in his voice.

“Want to know why you’ve been hiding yourself away in the bedroom instead of going out and doing – y’know, human stuffs.”

“Humans sleep.”

“Not for twenty-four hours a day, they don’t.”

“Look, if you want me out of your hair, I’m more than willing to go.” Sanji finally looked up at Zoro, dull blue meeting steel grey. “I never wanted to stay here anyway.”

“It’s not that, I – ugh.” Why were things always so _difficult_ with this blond? “You’ve been moping for so long. Time to get back up and live your life. Forget about that woman – she doesn’t matter anymore.”

“Don’t talk about her in that way.” Sanji protested, almost on reflex. “You don’t know her.”

“Apparently, neither did you.” Zoro answered firmly. When the cook didn’t reply, Zoro continued. “She had planned to cheat you all along, and you got fooled by it. Big deal, we all were fooled by her. It’s not your fault. Just – stop defending her and stop thinking about her already. Let her go. Move on.”

Sanji’s reply was so silent, Zoro barely caught the whispered words that had escaped the blond’s lips. But when the words registered in his ears, he felt a surge of anger so strong he thought he’d explode from the force of it.

“Are you fucking _listening_ to yourself right now?” He marches over, grabbing the blond by the collar and pressing him against the wall. “Do you know what you just fucking said to me?”

“Am I wrong?” Sanji shoves Zoro’s hand away. “Is what I’m saying wrong? I am _useless_ without my family – I am worthless on my own! I was only somebody because I was with Zeff, and once I left Zeff – look at the _All Blue_ now! It’s sinking – _drowning_ – it’s a dying business that I’ve created! You think I don’t answer Terracotta’s calls? The business is dying – there are no customers, the staff are all unhappy – we’ve even recently just had a water pipe burst during working hours in the kitchen! All I have is my fucking Vinsmoke name and I was a fool to have tried to run away from it – because that’s all I am in the end, isn’t it? I am nothing on my own! Pudding was with me because of my family – maybe that’s where I should be, then! Maybe I would have been happy there! Maybe if I went back, Pudding will come back to me and we’ll get married and live happily ever after! Isn’t this what it’s all about anyway? I’m only… I’m only valuable when I’m a Vinsmoke after all, isn’t it?”

Zoro stares at Sanji. He’s so enraged he blanks out on a response, for once; his fists tremble by his sides and he feels the flames in his chest expanding and it’s only then, staring at the blond’s face, looking at that hopeful – nearly _pleading_ expression the blond holds on his features – that the words finally come to him.

“You’re worth something, Sanji. Not Sanji Vinsmoke – just simply _Sanji_.” He sees the cook’s eyes widen at his unusual use of the blond’s name. “Pudding doesn’t deserve you. The Vinsmokes don’t deserve you. You know who deserves you? Yourself.” He can see the blond clinging onto his every word, trying to hold on to it despite everything else that forces him to reject Zoro’s words, and Zoro knows he has to make every word count. The blond is finally trying to listen, and it will take a while before the blond actually truly _gets_ it, and it will take the help of their entire crew, but at least Zoro can finally get that journey started. He will force Sanji down that path if necessary.

“You should pour all the affection, all the care and concern and thoughtfulness and kindness that you give liberally to everyone else, onto yourself. Think of yourself, for once. Read yourself, understand yourself, and love yourself like you do everyone else. Don’t think about Pudding, or your family, or Nami or Robin or any other person other than yourself, for once.”

He sees Sanji unclench his jaw, sees his shoulders lose their tension and the lines on his face fade.

“Okay.” Sanji finally replies after a long moment. “Okay.”


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has been a long time coming, hasn't it? It's been a few months and I'm so sorry that it's taken so long to update! Honestly, like I've mentioned earlier, there isn't really a plot for this, and so sometimes it gets quite hard to know what to write. I do have a vague (very vague) plot in mind that's yet to unfold, but we'll see how it goes.
> 
> As of now, enjoy! This is more of a fluff, have-fun type of chapter, so I hope you enjoy it!

**Chapter Seven**

 

He doesn’t know how it happens, but it does.

He stares at his reflection in the mirror, gingerly tucking in a strand of loose hair and plastering it to his mohawk with gel. Rubs his chin, feeling for stubble. Shoots himself a winning grin.

And then his phone pings.

Franky jumps, grabbing his phone and swiping it so quickly that the message pops right up. He scans through it once, and then takes a breath.

They’re having dinner today, the whole crew. It’s going to be at Zoro’s apartment – or rather, Zoro and Sanji’s shared apartment now – and Franky sees how living with Zoro has helped Sanji, even marginally. Sanji has finally snapped out of his self-imposed isolation; he joins them in their outings, laughs and sings and makes merry like the good old times.

No one mentions the ‘Pudding’ situation – they know better than that – but behind Sanji’s back, they’re looking. Nami’s been calling up banks, trying to get her hands on the bank account that Pudding transferred all of Sanji’s money into. Ace’s been asking around his contacts in the city for any sighting of her. Usopp’s been snooping around online. Of course, Luffy doesn’t know a thing – the straw-hat boy wouldn’t be able to keep anything from Sanji.

At the very least, they’d all decided (sans Luffy), they should try to get Sanji his things back. His money, his kitchen knives. And if they manage to find Pudding in the process and demand her apology to Sanji, even better. Perhaps Sanji would finally be able to get some closure.

Franky grabs his car keys and hurries down the stairs – it wouldn’t do to keep Robin waiting. He stops abruptly in front of his door, and then rushes to the mirror by his door and stares at himself again. Checks his hair, his face, his outfit.

He turns away abruptly. He doesn’t know why he’s doing this – doesn’t know why, all of a sudden, it becomes important that he looks good. It has never mattered to him before – he has always been of the mind-set that he looks _super_ no matter what he did; he even tied twin braids and showed them off to the world once before, and he must admit, he had looked _super awesome_ in them.

But now, it feels like there are a couple of strands out of place. His mouth seems too big on his face, his eyes too small and squinty. His torso entirely too big for his skinny legs.

Another ping, and he jumps again. He doesn’t need to look at the message to know what it’s about.

Franky curses himself as he rushes out the house. He shouldn’t keep a woman like Robin waiting for long!

He sees her head of glossy black hair even before she turns around; they fall over her shoulders, slightly mussed from the wind, yet somehow still looking like they _belonged_ there somehow, like her hair had meant to get messed from the wind, like it’s a style she’s trying to achieve – and she pulls it off brilliantly. 

She’s clad in a simple purple ribbed turtleneck and black pants, the shirt long enough that it reaches the top of her thighs so that it looks a little bit like a dress. A smile forms easily enough on her face as she acknowledges him.

“Shall we go then?” She says, and the words have suddenly tumbled right out of his mouth. His response comes in the form of a curt nod of his head towards the direction of his car, and she follows behind him as he unlocks the car door and opens the passenger door for her.

“Thank you,” She says, slipping into the seat. He shuts the door, a little _too_ hard, on her, and then hurries to his own seat.

Shit, he’s screwing this up so badly.

Wait, what is he screwing up anyway? It isn’t like this is a _date_ or something – he’s just fetching her to dinner, that’s all. As a friend. It’s just a friendly… meeting. Yeah, that’s right. Just a friendly meeting, with a friend, to hang out with their group of friends in their friend’s apartment.

“We really ought to be leaving now.” Her smooth voice slips into his thoughts and he jerks up from his seat. “We shouldn’t keep our friends waiting.” She smiles at him as he stares at her for a moment, uncomprehending.

“A-ah, yeah, that’s right.” He finally switches on the engine and backs out of his driveway.

This is going to be a long ride.

The silence stretches on between them and – is it awkward? He doesn’t know for sure. All he knows is that his lips are dry, and he runs a tongue over them.

“Do you need some water?” Robin asks, and Franky’s eyes flicker up to the mirror, where he sees her slightly arched brows.

“N-Nah, that’s alright.” He manages.

“It’s the first time we’ve been invited over to their apartment, isn’t it?” Despite Franky being terrible at making conversation, Robin smiles. “Surely it would be entirely different from how Zoro’s kept his apartment. Sanji wouldn’t be able to live with all that dirt and grime.”

“Y-Yeah,” Franky clears his throat when his response comes out slightly broken. “Zoro-bro lives in a pigsty, if I must say so myself! And curly-bro ain’t gonna be able to live with that.” It’s been two weeks since they’ve begun to live together. He hasn’t seen much of Sanji during that time – the blond has gone back to work, after all, and his restaurant is _super_ busy – but from the little Zoro has said to the rest of them, it seems like Sanji’s doing fine.

“Do you remember Doctor-san?” Robin asks, looking out the window. Franky stares at her profile; the faint embers from the dying sun spills across her face. She looks ethereal there and then, like a deity descended from the heavens. He stares at the individual strands of her eyelashes, long and curled at the ends, down to the dewy glow of her olive skin. When he doesn’t reply, she glances over at him.

His heart stops. And then pounds loud in his ears, like thunder.

“U-Uh…” He hastily rummages his memories. “The creepy dude? Tall fella? Tattoos over his arms?”

“Precisely.” She answers. “I think Luffy is trying to get him to come over today.”

“Ah, I can never understand what goes through that little guy’s head.” Franky shakes his head as he makes a left turn. “That man is creepy! And won’t curly-bro feel awkward with that guy hovering around?”

“He did indeed save Sanji’s life.” Robin muses, “It would feel odd, but we haven’t shown him our gratitude. And what better way of showing that, than to treat him to some of Sanji’s superb cooking?”

“Yeah,” Franky agrees absent-mindedly. That doctor… what was his name again? Law? And what’s that first part? It has something to do with London, Franky remembers. Remembers listening to that name and thinking immediately of this place in London or something… Westminster? Westminster Law? No, no, that can’t be right, that’s ridiculous. But he’s pretty sure the man’s _actual_ name is pretty ridiculous as well. Richmond Law? Camden Law? Tottenham Law? Baker Law? _Kensington_ Law?

Ah, whatever it is, Franky gets the heebie-jeebies just by looking at the man. When he had first stepped into the man’s office and saw all the grotesque drawings of the inside of a heart or muscles or whatever anatomy it was that was plastered all over the walls, and _then_ saw those dark tribal tattoos marring the man’s dark skin, and _then_ saw those heinous letters that made up ‘DEATH’ inked into the very fingers he had used to prod Sanji with, it just screamed _creepy_. And dangerous. And unease. And disturbing. Plus, it didn’t help that the man gave off massive serial killer vibes.

Franky also especially didn’t like the way the man had perked up when he heard the word ‘Vinsmoke’. Anyone who knows of that name is someone they should be doubly – no, triply – wary of.

“Franky, it’s to our right.” Robin’s voice severs Franky’s train of thoughts, and he hastily pulls into the nearest parking lot he sees.

“Ah, thanks.” He runs his hand through his hair, only belated realising the amount of gel he had smeared onto his blue strands. Grimacing slightly, he tries to shape his hair back into its stylish mohawk before giving up with a sigh. “Let’s go in then.”

“HEY!! Robin! Franky!” That familiar blare of Luffy’s siren-like voice reaches them just as they step out of the car.

“Hey, Luffy!” Franky grins, watching as the straw-hat boy bounds up to them with his brother in tow and… “TRAFALGAR LAW!” Franky screeches, suddenly recalling that absurd London-place name that the man has. Trafalgar, like Trafalgar Square in London. Seriously, who even names their kid that? And Franky’s always thought a name like ‘Brooklyn’ is bad enough.

The tall man cocks a single eyebrow as he reaches them easily in a few strides. “Yes, that is my name.” He answers in that creepy silky snake-voice he has.

“Ah, you remember him!” Luffy grins. “Torao, this is Franky! And that is Robin!” Luffy introduces briefly.

“We should hurry, we’re late.” Ace says as he reaches them. He grins at both Franky and Robin as a greeting, and then makes his way to the elevator. The rest of them follow behind.

They pile into the elevator when it arrives, the five of them squeezed together slightly uncomfortably in the small enclosed space. Franky, unfortunately, is smashed up right by the creepy doctor’s side. And while Franky’s by no means small or _short,_ the doctor is so tall he still manages to loom over Franky.

It’s even worse that the thing that keeps catching Franky’s eyes is the word ‘DEATH’ etched onto the man’s fingers. Seriously, who _does_ that? That’s the creepiest thing ever – and Franky has been friends with Brook for forever.

When the elevator dings, Franky hastily rushes out, followed by Robin, Luffy, Ace, and then finally, Doctor Creepstastic. The door to Zoro and Sanji’s apartment – it’s still weird to lump both their names together in an apartment, but ah well, it’s for the best – is already opened by the time they reach.

“You guys are late!” Nami chides, placing her hands on her hips.

“Sorry!” Luffy says with absolutely no remorse in his voice, or in his wide grin. “Ace fell asleep before coming and it took _forever_ to wake him up! Then we had to hunt down Torao’s place to fetch him – it’s so cool, it’s in a part of town even I’ve barely even stepped foot on! And it’s hidden in this small dark alley with almost nobody around!”

Okay, if that isn’t the 100th warning sign that the doctor’s no good, Franky doesn’t know what else is.

“Alright, just come in already!” Nami huffs, ushering them in hurriedly. Inside, Usopp is lounging on the sofa, mindlessly flipping through the channels on TV. Chopper is reading something intently on his phone, but the moment they enter, his eyes flick up.

And it’s amazing, the way his eyes immediately zoom onto Law’s looming, gloomy form and his mouth splits open as he drops his phone onto the sofa seat and bounds up to his feet.

“Law!” He yells, completely disregarding the rest of them. Franky feels a bit hurt that Chopper even sort of pushes him aside to reach Doctor Creepstastic. “I didn’t know you were coming! Have you read the new article on – wait, let me show it to you, where is my phone?” Chopper looks around in alarm, staring at his empty palms so hard it’s as though he expects his phone to materialise in them out of nowhere.

“It’s here Chopper, catch!” Usopp yells from the sofa seat, and Chopper turns just in time to see his phone whizzing across the air and flying straight into his face.

Ace catches it just before the phone could smash into Chopper’s nose, and then drops it into Chopper’s opened palms. He pats Chopper’s head before joining the rest at the sofa.

“Oi! Be more careful with Chopper!” Nami chides, slapping Luffy’s hand away from the chicken on the dining table as she does. “Sanji’s making the finishing touches on the food, and Zoro – I actually don’t know where the hell that guy is. Luffy, go find him!”

“On it!” Luffy says, managing to pinch a bit of mashed potatoes from the table as he rushes off to find Zoro.

“So basically, this new discovery opens up an entire new avenue for research on the physiognomy of primates and marine animals!” When Law doesn’t immediately respond, Chopper looks defeated. He stammers, “I-I mean, I know that’s not your expertise or your field – it isn’t mine either! – but isn’t it interesting, to see how…”

“Indeed. This could say a lot more about the history of humankind than much else that have popped up in recent years.” The man finally answers.

“I found him!” Luffy yells, pulling Zoro into the living room by the ear.

“Let go already Luffy, I already said I was going out!” Zoro slaps Luffy’s fingers away, before proceeding to tend to his bruised ears. “Who the hell sent this rubbery bastard after me?”

Usopp, Franky, and Ace all turn their heads simultaneously at Nami. Zoro stares at the orange-haired woman for a while, before sighing.

“Never mind. I’m hungry. Where’s the cook?”

“Everybody, this is the final dish.” Brook suddenly announces as he languidly steps out of the kitchen, a covered plate in his hand. “Yohohoho, how magnificent it is to see us all gathered together here, bound by the joint love for the food that is Sanji’s wonderful cooking!”

“Can we eat now? Is it time to eat? Is it? Is it? What’s that you’re holding? Is that meat? It smells like meat! Can we eat?”

“Yes, you rubbery idiot. Gather ‘round guys, it’s time for dinner.” Sanji pipes up from behind Brook, holding a couple of empty plates in hand. His gaze roams around the room before it settles on Law’s tall form. He stares at the man for a moment, frowning. “Who’s that?” He asks, gaze fixed onto Law.

Law doesn’t look at all perturbed by Sanji’s response to him, but he doesn’t make a move to answer his question either. Usopp’s gaze flits nervously from Sanji to Law, and back to Sanji again.

It’s Nami who breaks the silence.

“That’s Law,” She says. “He saved you that day from hypothermia.”

“Oh.” Is all Sanji can say to that. And then finally. “Uh, I guess… thank you?”

“There’s no need.” Law answers in his usual clipped tone. “I’m a doctor. It’s my job. Also,” He narrows his eyes at Luffy, who has already seated himself at the head of the table and is currently drooling over the full plates of food that is laid out in front of him. “I’m sorry for coming here unannounced. I was, for lack of better words, unceremoniously dragged out here by your friend. I… honestly don’t know how he managed to have gotten my home address.”

Oh right, Franky’s forgot to ask how Luffy had managed to bring the creepy man here. Ah well, the doctor’s explanation makes sense. And Luffy can be annoyingly resourceful for the worst reasons anyhow.

“I know how you feel.” Zoro says darkly, and Franky almost laughs. Right, Luffy did that to Zoro too. And to Sanji, actually. And Chopper. And Robin. And Nami. Out of all of them, it seems that only Brook, Usopp, Ace – okay well that doesn’t count, Ace is Luffy’s _brother_ , after all – and himself are the ones who have willingly divulged their home addresses to Luffy. Sometimes Franky regrets doing that.

“Ah, it’s nothing!” Luffy waves off Law’s and Zoro’s words like they’re meant to be compliments. “I have a lot of friends.”

“We know.” Nami and Usopp said simultaneously.

“Anyway! What are you all still sitting there for? It’s time to eat! There’s food!” And almost all at the same time, everyone seated at the sofas exchange glances, almost realising simultaneously that _somehow_ , they are still seated on the sofa when _Sanji’s cooking_ is waiting for them at the table.

They lift themselves up like zombies waking up after transformation, and then, lured by the smell, bring themselves to the dinner table.

That’s the only moment of peace they get before the chaos that is Monkey D. Luffy begin to descend on the innocent food sitting at the dining table.

 

 

 

“Ah, that’s great.” Luffy pats his bulging tummy. “Are there desserts? More food, Sanji? More meat?”

“You’ve already inhaled the entire refrigerator’s worth of contents so no.” The blond answers, clearing the dishes. “Now go and pester somebody else, leave me alone.”

Luffy pouts. “That’s mean!” But he still plops heavily onto the sofa, propping his feet on Usopp’s lap and resting his head on Ace’s.

“Now that everyone’s well-fed and satisfied, I think it’s time for some post-dinner games, don’t you think?” Nami nudges Usopp further into the sofa and settles herself between him and the armrest. “What shall we play?”

“Well, we’ve got a new guest here today…” Usopp begins, but his words wither away as Law stares at him with his usual steely gaze. “Let’s not involve him in this.” He mutters quickly under his breath, but Nami’s next words cut him off.

“Right! So, we should play ‘two truths one lie’ then!” She announces, smacking a fist into her palm. “You know how that game goes right, Law?”

“I really don’t –”

“Basically, you give us three statements, and we’ve got to decide which of the statements is a lie!” Chopper pipes up. “It’s easy really! Some people are so easy to guess…” He looks pointedly at Luffy, who is picking his nose.

“Ew, Lu, don’t pick your nose and then dump the booger on me!” Ace pushes Luffy’s head away, grimacing. “I’m so glad I don’t live with you anymore!”

“Alright, so let’s begin!” Nami grins. “Let’s not make the poor newcomer here start off the round. Hm… okay, Ace, you go!”

Ace stares blankly at the rest of them, only just having heard his name in the conversation but not actually knowing what it’s all about. “I go… where now?”

“’Two truths one lie’”! Chopper pushes himself to an upright position. Ah, Sanji’s food really is so good… it’s so difficult to concentrate on what the others are saying right now.

“You do know what that is, don’t you, Ace-san? You simply make three statements, and we need to guess which is a lie.” Brook props his skinny legs onto the coffee table, picking his nose. He blows the booger off of his finger before staring up at Ace with his hauntingly hollow expression.

“You and Luffy are both one of a kind…” Ace mutters in disgust under his breath. “Okay, so ‘two truths one lie’? Hm, let me think…”

“You get three seconds! Three, two…” Usopp begins counting down.

“Eh? What? Three seconds? Wait, I haven’t even –”

“1! Give us the three statements!” Usopp announces. Ace stares at everybody, jaw slightly agape.

“Uh… okay… um… one, I’m really glad to be here. Two, Luffy is clingy as hell and I don’t want him sitting on my lap with booger all over his face. Three… hm… uh… Luffy is my favourite brother.”

At the end of that last statement, the rest exchange confused glances.

“You have… another brother?” Zoro asks, his forehead scrunched. “As in… Luffy is not your only brother?”

“Uh… yeah? Why is that coming as a surprise?”

“So… there’s another one of the two of you?” Sanji looks genuinely distressed at the thought of that.

“Well, yeah – hey! What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Number one is true! You’ve missed us! That’s what you’ve been saying since you’ve come back!” Luffy seems to be pointedly ignoring – or perhaps oblivious to – their obvious confusion at the appearance of a third brother. “Number two is true! But too bad, I ain’t stopping.” Luffy stuck his tongue out at his brother. “So that leaves number three to be… eh, wait, what? I’m not your favourite brother? Ace! How can I not be your favourite brother?”

“I mean, I love both of you equally.” Ace shrugs.

“Nooooo! I like you best! How can you say that?”

“You like me best?” Ace seems genuinely surprised at that.

“Well, yeah! You’re here now!” Is Luffy’s innocent response.

“What’s that supposed to mean? So if Sabo’s here instead of me, you’d choose him over me?”

“Yeah! I don’t get why you’re so upset for, at least right now you’re my favourite!”

“That means nothing if the tables get turned just as quickly as that! And what kind of broke-ass reason is that anyway?”

“Uh… okay, so moving on.” Nami’s still frowning at the two brothers, but, smartly enough, decides to drop the topic of this emergence of the unknown third brother. She agrees with Sanji though – two of them is already enough trouble; now there’s a _third?_ She really doesn’t want to know anymore. “Alright, now then, creepy doctor, you’re up!”

“Creepy doctor?” Chopper swivels his head to look at Law, and then turns back to Nami, looking absolutely affronted. “Nami! That’s so rude! Law’s a recognised medical practitioner! How could you say that?”

“You’re not denying the fact that he’s creepy as fuck, though.” Sanji leans against the armrest, hand reaching for his cigarette. He hesitates mid-air though, and then, after some thought, places his arm back by his side.

“Well, I mean – that’s – well, he’s a _doctor_!”

“Five! Four! Three!” Usopp’s not even listening to Chopper by this time.

“One,” Law begins before the countdown even finishes. “I am a surgeon, not a doctor, specialising in open heart surgeries.” Before Chopper can squeal and flail anymore, he continues, “Two, my family is all dead.” Chopper’s squeals end abruptly at that statement. “Three, I actually really don’t like any of you and I have no interest in being here any longer than I already have.” All three statements uttered in the same, even, overly-smooth creepy voice. Monotonous, matter-of-fact. No emotions behind them whatsoever.

The silence that follow is _palpable._

Usopp and Nami exchange glances. Franky squirms uncomfortably in his seat. Sanji’s pose against the armchair stiffens, and Zoro is staring at Law as though the man has suddenly grown a third head.

Only Robin is still smiling, albeit a little creepily, at the strange silence. “Let me be the first to venture then.” Her smooth tone carries easily in the quiet room, and Chopper stares up at her as though she’s his saviour. Or maybe even the messiah, here to save them from the sinking, crashing mess that is this party. “The first statement is correct. I have seen the diagrams in your office regarding open heart surgeries, and you even have a certificate of it on your walls.”

Franky clears his throat loudly. He can’t leave Robin to fight her way through this chaos on her own! He has to help – even though, seriously, what kind of statements were those? Doctor Creepstastic trying to crap all over their gathering, is it now? He doesn’t even know what he’s planning to say as he opens his mouth, but he lets the words fall out anyway. “Well, yeah, I _super_ agree with Robin on the first one! And well, as for the second, and the third… at least I _wish_ they weren’t true, but… yeah, well, um… one of them has to be true, and… if one of them is true, then… well, I mean, I hope you don’t _hate_ us or anything but I’d rather that than the second… but even so, what I’d rather doesn’t matter right? I mean, I… ha… ha… ha…” So… he’s crashed and burned. It isn’t his fault! Who’d say such creepy _uncomfortable_ statements on a first meeting anyway? Doctor Creepstastic, of course. Damn, he’s lost some serious face in front of Robin.

Why did that matter?

Okay, he’s been through this before. It matters now. He’s gonna face it like a man. Like a _super_ man. But not _superman_ because he’s just not about that life. Okay, wait, where was he going with this?

“Considering that you’ve been sitting here all night long and haven’t said a word of complaint, I’m guessing the third statement is false.” Nami pipes up, the confidence in her voice wavering as she reaches the end of her sentence.

Law just replies with an undecipherable smile.

“Okay! Next game!” Nami hastily suggests, and the rest of them scramble to agree.

“This is boring!” Luffy yells, stretching his arms – and very nearly punching Ace in the face with that. “Let’s play… let’s play capture the flag!”

“Here? In this tiny apartment?” Usopp smacks Luffy’s feet, and Luffy pulls his legs back from Usopp’s lap. “Don’t be crazy!”

“No! It can work! We can…” His wide eyes scan the room. “We have eleven people! One referee, and the rest of the ten can split into teams of two!”

“And?” Usopp looks obviously unsure. Luffy’s not the best at planning.

“Okay, so one person will carry the other person on their shoulders! And the person on top has to protect something! The team who steals the most of that ‘something’ wins Sanji’s food!”

“Wait, what?” Sanji finally turns to look at Luffy.

“Then what’s the ‘something’ to protect?” Usopp asks.

“Mm…” This is obviously the most Luffy has planned in a long while, maybe even in forever. He frowns, pushing his brows together and swivelling his head around to look at the room. Finally, his eyes lands on something, and he grins. “Shirts! They’ve got to steal the shirts off our backs”

“What?” Nami screeches, reaching over and slapping Luffy’s head. “I’d expect this from Sanji or Brook, but not you!”

“I’m in!” Sanji immediately stands upright, his arm raised in his hands. Brook follows suit.

“Yohohoho, this seems to be an exciting turn of events!”

“What’s wrong? That’s more fun that way!” Luffy rubs his head. “Right, Ace!”

“Well, I see where Nami’s coming from… well, you can just be the person on the bottom carrying the other person…” At Nami’s glare, Ace hastily backtracks. “Or… just wear another layer on the inside?”

“Fine.” She crosses her arms. “Okay, so we’re going to randomly pick the teams now!” She’s suddenly taking charge again, writing their names on slits of paper and throwing them into a container. “The first five names I pick will be the people on the bottom, and the next five names will correspond to the people who have to protect their shirts on the top! The last name remaining is the referee!”

The results go like this: Luffy, Sanji, Franky, Nami, and Brook are the people on the bottom. Law, Ace, Robin, Chopper, and Usopp are on the top. Zoro’s the referee.

“I’d really prefer to not partake in this.” Law says stoically as Luffy attempts to heave the tall man on his shoulders. Law, however, is tall enough that his feet are still touching the ground even after Luffy manhandles him onto his shoulders, while Luffy looks engulfed by the man’s height.

“Okay, so we’re going to tackle them first,” Nami hisses to Chopper, “Because they’re already unsteady. But you’ve got to watch out, Luffy’s a menace, as always. And who knows what Law would do?”

“Are you sure you can carry me?” Usopp eyes Brook warily, considering the man’s absurdly skinny form.

“Usopp-san, I am offended that you think that! Now, get on my shoulder so that we can undress Robin!”

“Sorry ‘bout this,” Ace says as he climbs onto Sanji’s shoulders. Ace is rather broad and muscular, while Sanji is lanky and lean. But Sanji has a good strong pair of legs that easily holds Ace up, so despite the difference in frame, Ace actually feels rather comfortable up there. “So, what’s our battle plan?”

“I’m sure most people would tackle Luffy and Law first because, seriously, just look at them!” Sanji points the two out. Law, for the first time since arriving here, actually has an _expression_ on his face, and that expression is mortification. Meanwhile, Luffy looks like he’s having the time of his life, jumping around and bouncing up and down, completely disregarding Law’s obvious discomfort. “And because of that, they’d end up neglecting the other two unsteady couple.” He directs Ace’s gaze towards Usopp and Brook.

The two exchange equally sinister smiles.

“You alright?” Franky asks as Robin sits comfortably on his broad shoulders. He feels his heart thudding faster beneath his chest, and he’s really hoping Robin won’t be able to feel that. Could people even feel his heartrate from his shoulders? Or no wait, maybe what he should be more worried about is his pulse. Which she can feel from his neck. Which is _very close_ to her legs, and…

 He shouldn’t be thinking about this anymore.

“I’m quite alright. This is actually very comfortable.” She assures, and Franky can’t help the grin that blossoms on his face. Sometimes he feels quite self-conscious about his inverted triangle body shape. His legs are far too skinny for his overly broad shoulders, and most clothes he wears show that shape off too obviously.

Now, though, he’s thankful for it. Those broad shoulders are finally doing him some good! If they can make a good rest for Robin, then he’d accept them any day.

“Alright, everybody ready?” Zoro asks, perched on the back of the sofa as he watches everyone wobble and try to regain their balance. At the asynchronous ‘yes’s that follow, he grins.

“Okay then, let the competition begin!”


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for all the comments and kudos! I love them all and really appreciate them! Alright, so here's the next chapter, enjoy!

**Chapter Eight**

 

Cora-san has always told him, “Make it a great day”, because the saying of “Have a good day” implies passiveness on his part. It implies that everything that would happen in a day – or in fact, his entire life – is already preordained, and there’s no way of him ever changing that. Like the day is already set for him there and then, and all he has to do is lead it, with the hopes of it turning out to be a good one. It implies helplessness and hopelessness, and he’s already had enough of that to fill a dozen lives.

Law’s smile lingers on his face as he hangs up on Cora-san that afternoon. “Make it a great day!” Cora’s bright voice rings in his ears as he gets out of bed and looks out the window. It’s one of his few days off work, and he’s slept in till late noon. He has a nice horror movie filled with mindless gore and violence already prepped on his large-screen television, and he’s sifting through a couple of online delivery sites deciding on what food to have for dinner. The weather is nice and cool – it looks like it might rain soon – and he’s left all alone in his apartment. Make it a great day? Yeah, he will. He’s got it all planned out – a quiet, cosy day spent with the best company he knows: himself.

So then why the _hell_ is he now forced to be with this rambunctious bunch, sitting atop a tiny man’s shoulders as the tips of his feet graze the floor while the small man laughs boisterously beneath him? He feels the vibrations of that laugher where he sits, and for the umpteenth time he wonders to himself just _how the hell_ had Luffy found his apartment, barged into said apartment, and managed to drag him out?

He’s run through what happened a million times in his head, but he still can’t come to a conceivable answer except for the fact that it’s _Luffy_ , who somehow has impeccable timing and luck for everything that he gets what he wants when he wants it, and no one can stop him. Unfortunately, including Law.

A few hours ago, he’s lounging on his sofa, a can of beer in his hand as he waits for his food to arrive. He had decided on something simple – he doesn’t like greasy, fatty foods after all – and the onigiri from that Japanese place was supposed to be incredible. At least, from what Shachi and Penguin had told him.

Someone knocks on the door just as he nearly finishes his first can of beer, and he slowly gets to his feet. It’s a little early, but he figures it’s the delivery man. As he makes his way to his front door, the person raps on his door a couple more times. It causes a bubble of annoyance to swell up in Law’s chest, but he pushes that away. It’s supposed to be his rest day – a simple, calming day to soothe his frayed nerves from irritable patients and their even more exasperating family members. He doesn’t want to lose his temper over this… impatient delivery man.

That’s the first mistake he makes. The moment he twists the knob, the door slams open – he only narrowly dodges it – and then a figure comes barrelling into the house. He steps aside quickly out of reflex, the way a bull handler would as the bull charges right in his direction, and then before he knows it, he sees said man leaping onto his sofa.

“Hey ya Torao!” The man says, beaming up at him as though he hasn’t literally just charged into his apartment and made himself at home, just like that, without invitation and without any inhibitions whatsoever.

Law’s jaw drops as he stares at that figure who has barged into his sanctuary and settled himself there, like it’s a home he frequents, or as though it’s his own home, in fact. Law’s so shocked he leaves the door open, and then another person comes strolling in, natural as can be, like he’s a friend Law expects to be visiting.

“Nice home you have here!” Luffy – he only belatedly places the name to the face – says, leaning back and propping his feet onto Law’s coffee table.

“A little early for beer, isn’t it?” The other person – Law’s only just registered his presence, his mind too stunned by Luffy to actually notice the rest of his surroundings – says, casually patting Law on his back as he joins Luffy on the sofa. “But yeah, nice apartment! The location’s a little dodgy, but the apartment seems really cosy.”

This other person – Law can’t seem to remember his name, but he recognises the face, the face of the person who had snatched his phone… was it a month back? He doesn’t really remember anymore – waves at Law as though they’re best buddies.

And then it clicks. The person had gotten Law’s number that day, snatching Law’s phone to dial his own. Did he somehow install a tracking device then as well? How did they find his place? He’s made his home in a place as far off from the main city as possible, in as secluded an alley as he can find. How did they find him? How did they get here?

No, wait, the most important question is: _why?_ Why are they here? What do they want from him?

Law’s defences go up as he carefully shuts the door behind him, his eyes narrowing at the two figures in front of him. Luffy’s flipping through the channels on his television, while the other guy casually picks up his can of beer, takes a sniff at it, shrugs, and then chugs it down.

“Hey! What’s that you’re drinking? Why didn’t you let me drink some!” Luffy complains when he notices, reaching out to the empty beer can, but the other man puts it out of reach.

“Luffy, it’s _beer_ , you don’t drink beer, and most importantly, you are _forbidden_ to drink beer! Don’t you remember? Damn, even when you’re sober you’re a mess. No one wants to witness drunk Luffy in action again.”

Luffy pouts, crossing his arms. “No fair, Ace. That was only one time! But yeah, beer is awful.” He sticks out his tongue. Almost as though he has _just_ only noticed the person whose house he has barged into, he looks at Law and says, “What’re you doing? Come here and sit with us! Make yourself at home!”

Law feels his heckles rising. It _is_ his home, and most importantly, what the _fuck_ were those two guys doing here? Even Penguin and Shachi have never been to his house before. It’s his most treasured abode, a place where he’s free to be alone, by himself, with no interferences or annoying outsiders whatsoever. A place where he can _relax_.

He can almost _see_ the two men tainting his pure, comforting safe space from where they’ve made contact with it. Desecrating his asylum. That’s a crime worthy of death.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” He growls. “And who the fuck are you?” He directs the question to the second man seated on the sofa.

“Ah, I’m Ace! Don’t you remember? From the coffee shop that day?” The man replies, casual and nonchalant as always. “Oh wait, I’ve forgotten my manners. Good afternoon – or is it more like good evening right now? Ah, never mind. Anyway, thanks for letting us in! Luffy and I sure were tired, wandering around trying to find your place. Do you know how _difficult_ it is to find?” Wow, that man sure knows how to get on his nerves.

“Oh right, we forgot to tell you! Yeah, we’re here to fetch you to the party!” Luffy pipes up from the other side, crawling over Ace to get a better look at Law, who’s fuming as he stands. No, not that man. _This_ man. That Ace guy gets on his nerves, but Luffy? He’s stomping all over them.

“ _What party?_ ” He hisses, and any lesser man would cower at the sight of him, grey eyes small and narrowed, voice low and menacing, fists clenched tight so that the letters of ‘DEATH’ seem to be screaming bloody murder.

So first they barge into his apartment, sit on his sofa, drink his drink, desecrating his safe space, and now they want to bring him _out_ of the aforementioned sanctuary – to a _party_ , no less? No. No way. It’s his rest day. His no-human day. His get-the-fuck-out-of-his-life-humans day.

He’s been nice enough. Those two pests have to go.

“You know, I told you before! Dinner party, at Sanji’s! To thank you for saving his life?” Luffy tilts his head. “You sure got a bad memory, Torao!”

“It’d be better thanks if the two of you got out of my apartment.” He answers. “Now.”

“Come on! We’ve already come all the way here! Let’s just go already! We’re gonna be late for Sanji’s food!”

“How did you even get your hands on my address?”

“Ah, that’s nothing,” Luffy waves it off as though it’s a compliment. “Anyway, hurry up! Eh, are you still in your sleep wear? It’s already close to evening!”

He’s indeed still clad in his sleep attire, and he’s not planning to change out of it.

“I want you to leave right now before I call security.” Law threatens, picking up his phone from the coffee table. “You are not welcomed here, you are _never_ welcomed here, and I need you to go away.”

“Eh, what are you so pissy about? You’re almost like Sanji!” Luffy takes his words and his warnings and smacks them out the window. He can almost see it happening literally; the straw-hat man shoving away the words with a baseball bat, like _whoosh_ , and then, what words? What warnings? It’s as if he never said anything.

“Also, what’s this button here?” Ace peers under his coffee table. “Is it some sort of table-transformation thing?”

“Ooh, that’s cool!” Luffy twists his neck almost absurdly to get a good view. “Let’s press it to see what happens!”

Uh oh. The anger evaporates almost immediately. “Don’t go near that!” Law warns, rushing towards them.

“Eh, why not?” Luffy asks, and Law nearly lets out a breath – Luffy’s finally heard him loud and clear this time – but then he notices the man’s finger inching towards the button.

“Just don’t! I – oh right, the party! Sanji’s food! Let’s go, aren’t we going to be late?” The words tumble out of his mouth before he even thinks of it, and Luffy jerks upright, button all but forgotten in that instance.

Thank God that man has the attention span of a goldfish.

“Right! Ace, what time’s it? Never mind, it’s too late! I can almost smell Sanji’s cooking from here… let’s go! We’ve got to go! No time to waste! Meat! Sanji’s cooking!” Luffy leaps up to his feet.

And then… well. Yeah, of course. That’s how he got dragged into all of this, isn’t it?

He stares dead-eyed at the rest of them, fumbling around or making plans or doing equally stupid shit. He feels like his soul has already left his body. All that’s here right now is a withered husk of a person, participating in a party he never wished to be a part of, wasting away his one and only rest day with a bunch of people more energy-draining than he has ever encountered before in his life.

“Make it a good day”? Yeah, he tried. He really tried, Cora-san. But sometimes life is a bitch. And it sends you a hell of a Luffy.

 

 

 

It is absolute chaos.

“Go! Attack, Nami!” Chopper shouts, arm outstretched like he’s entering the battle fray… which he actually is. Nami lets out a yelp as Luffy swings his leg under her, and Law nearly topples over, which causes _Luffy_ to nearly topple over, but he grabs onto Nami as he tries to catch his balance, and then _Chopper_ nearly falls and has to pull on Nami’s hair to stay steady.

“Stop moving Chopper!” Luffy scolds.

“No, you stop moving! Let go of Nami already! We’re all gonna fall at this rate!” The younger boy clutches onto Nami’s hair like a lifeline.

“ALL OF YOU SHUT UP AND LET GO OF ME!” Nami screeches, and Luffy and Chopper immediately let go. Luffy smashes onto the floor face-first and Law gets thrown off the man’s shoulders; meanwhile, Chopper flies in an arc across the room and lands right smack on Usopp’s shoulder.

“Oi, if you don’t get up and get back to your respective partners in three seconds, you’re out!” Zoro makes up the rules on the spot, but none of them argue; Luffy leaps to his feet and hoists a very unwilling Law, who is currently trying to make himself a deadweight in Luffy’s grip but is failing spectacularly, onto his shoulders, while Usopp clings onto Chopper’s feet for his dear life.

“No Chopper, if I get your shirt, I’ll get a point!” Usopp says as he struggles to pull Chopper’s shirt off of his back.

“Usopp! If you do that, you’re dead, you hear me! You are _dead_!” Nami runs toward them, but with Brook and Usopp’s additional height, it’s practically impossible for her to reach the younger boy. Chopper looks down at her with his pupils shaking with fear.

He chokes back a sob. “N-Nami! I’m so sorry! I’m sorry for pulling onto your hair! Save me! He’s not letting go! This long-nosed devil isn’t letting go!”

“What did you say, Chopper? Zoro! You’re not counting down!”

“Ah right, sorry, forgot ‘bout that. Okay, I’ll start now. Three…”

“IF YOU COUNT DOWN ONE MORE TIME YOU ARE DEAD TO ME ZORO, YOU HEAR! You already owe me three hundred million dollars! Do you want that getting to your supervisors in the police force, huh, Mr. Police Officer? DO YOU?!”

“ZORO! Does our friendship mean nothing anymore! Is this the end, then, the adventures of Usopp the artist and Zoro the officer? After ten years together, alas, is money going to be that common fool’s enemy that breaks even our bond? _Our_ bond? Zoro- _kun_ , is that it!” Usopp clutches his heart with one hand as he desperately holds on to Chopper with the other.

“Ugh, this is getting too troublesome…” Zoro scratches the back of his neck. “Ah, do whatever you want. I don’t care anymore.”

“YAY! Thank you! Thanks to your generosity, it seems our friendship is once again unbreakable! We will go beyond ten years – twelve, no, twenty, no, even fifty years! That’s how strong, how infallible – _ah, Nami, don’t bite my leg!”_

“Look at them fools,” Sanji shakes his head, and Ace nods. “They’re already killing each other without our interference.”

“Thanks, Nami, I thought I was going to die there!” Chopper wipes away the sheen of sweat that has formed on his forehead as he takes back his original spot on Nami’s shoulders. “That Usopp really wasn’t planning on giving up!”

“Oi! Don’t forget about us!” Luffy barrels head-on into Nami and Chopper the moment the two manage to settle down. Law lets out a deep sigh, as though he has entirely given up on fighting and has decided to merely remain as a deadweight on the man’s shoulders.

“Luffy, can’t you attack someone else? We’ve just got up!” Nami groans as she tries to push the rubbery man’s hands away from Chopper, but Luffy is… well, _obviously_ , persistent.

“No! How can we just attack someone else? That’s not how competitions go – and, here! I’ve got it! I’ve got Chopper’s shirt!” Luffy yells, swinging Chopper’s rumpled shirt in the air and throwing it at Zoro, who catches it reflexively even though he isn’t even watching the competition.

“Alright, yeah, sure, Luffy one point.” Zoro announces half-heartedly before resuming to watch the nature show that’s playing on the television.

“Robin, should we make our move soon?” Franky asks, and the woman shakes her head.

“Now’s not the time for us to act. Perhaps they will slaughter each other in our stead, and we won’t even need to lift a finger to win.” Franky decided there and then that the macabre smile Robin dons on her face right at that moment is completely disturbing and there’s no way he’s gonna do anything to see _that_ smile directed towards him. Not if he wants to stay alive, nope.

“Attack! GO, Brook, attack! Attack, attack, while their guard is down! Now!” Franky side-steps just as Brook charges towards Franky and Robin, and then sticks his leg out such that Brook’s thin legs get caught and he trips over them. “Ah, no, we’re falling! Retreat, retreat, we’ve been spotted!”

“I’m so sorry, Usopp-san, but… it seems this is my last,” Brook lets out a deep sigh as he begins the slow plummet towards the floor. “This… is my last… sacrifice… for you…” he pushes Usopp off his shoulders as his face meets the armrest, and then his body crumples onto the floor in a heap.

“Brook! Brook, no! We’ve been through so much together – we fought together valiantly side by side against the she-horror that is Nami! Stay with me, Brook! Don’t let go! Don’t!” Usopp grabs Brook by the shoulders, shaking him, but the older man refuses to budge.

Somewhere nearby, Law’s staring at the two of them, wondering if he should’ve just done the same thing as Brook and feigned his ‘death’, so to speak. Maybe then he would’ve gotten out of this madness a lot earlier.

“Alas, I see our chance.” Robin says simply, and Franky immediately makes a move. He tackles Usopp, pins the long-nose down and pushes Usopp’s head flat on the floor so that Robin easily removes Usopp’s top. “Zoro, it appears we, too, have gotten a point.” he says, flinging the shirt easily to Zoro, who catches it easily again, but this time with grimace.

“Why am I collecting all these disgusting shirts?” he scrunches his nose at the sweat-sodden shirt that Usopp has been wearing, and then throws it aside. “One point to Robin and Franky.”

“We’ve only one enemy.” Ace says, and Sanji hums in agreement. “There’s only one path to head towards.”

Ace locks eyes with Robin from across the room, and the two of them bob their head. It’s useless trying to go after Luffy alone – and honestly, only Luffy, because Law’s practically negligible in this situation. The man’s a ball of energy that can only keep expanding and expanding until it exhausts everything around him; there’s only one way they can keep themselves alive.

“Let’s go,” Ace mutters, and Sanji takes a step forward just as Franky does as well. Luffy’s head swivels from Ace, to Robin, and then back to Ace again.

“Shit, they’re teaming up! We’ve got to move!” Luffy makes a move to run, but Law plants his feet to the ground – his muscles have actually been starting to cramp from folding his legs for too long – and refuses to budge. “Oi, Law, what are you doing!”

“Getting myself out of this mess.” the taller man deadpans, and Luffy stares at him in stunned betrayal.

“What are you talking about? I trusted you! Law! Weren’t we a team? Let go! There’s still time! They’re coming!”

Zoro shakes his head at Luffy’s dramatic words. The man’s obviously been living with Usopp for far too long. How much have the long-nosed designer tainted their innocent friend’s mind? It’s too late. There’s probably no turning back.

“No.” Law answers simply.

Luffy’s answer comes in a scream as Ace leaps at them, throwing Law aside, and then – against all rules – proceeds to tear the shirt off Luffy’s back. Almost as though Zoro’s been waiting for it, the red shirt goes sailing across the air before landing neatly in Zoro’s opened palms.

“One point to Ace and the curly cook.” He announces, and spares Law a glance as the man moves to sit next to him. “Good job, not many people can stop Luffy just like that.”

He ignores Luffy’s complaints that Ace has broken the rules. It’s not like he wanted this job as a referee, anyway.

“I can tell.” The fatigue in his voice is almost palpable. Zoro would’ve patted the man on the shoulder, if it isn’t their first-time meeting. And if the man doesn’t have such massive creep vibes.

“Look, Sanji, I know you’re weak against women –” Ace tries to counsel, but Sanji isn’t listening.

“No! It’s Robin-chwan, love of my life! Beauty bestowed by the gods, the dawn of the light! How can we… strip her… top… off… heh… heh….”

Ace rolls his eyes. The pervert and the philogynist in Sanji are starting to war against each other, huh? That’s… not a war he wants to be a part of. Maybe he should’ve thought the strategy through.

It’s too late now, though. Robin is only a few feet away from him, and Sanji is openly drooling at the thought of the woman with her shirt off, but still he isn’t making any steps towards her. Franky’s the first to move forward.

Franky grabs Ace by the legs just as Ace reaches out towards Robin, but before Ace’s hands could make contact, a leg shoots up and slaps his hands away.

“Sanji!” he yells in exasperation.

“Don’t you _dare_ touch Robin-chan!” the blond growls back, but he’s still, unsurprisingly, openly drooling.

“Is he… always like this?” Law asks, and Zoro nods his head.

“He’s an idiot.”

Unsurprisingly, Ace loses… with his dignity in tatters. Zoro holds up the torn red shirt and crowns Robin and Franky the winner.

It’s not like he expected anything else, really.

When Sanji goes out to the balcony for a smoke, Law joins him, eager to get away from the ruckus that the rest – mainly, Luffy, Chopper, and Usopp, who are busy scolding one another yet simultaneously laughing about the game – are _still_ making. Seriously, their energies seem to never deplete.

“Hey,” Sanji greets, offering the man a cigarette. Law doesn’t really smoke, used to only smoke occasionally when he’s stressed, but he takes the proffered cigarette because… well, why not? And in his books, the situation he has gotten himself in – this party with the rowdiest motley crew of people he has ever met – is stressful enough for him to deem it cigarette-worthy.

“Hey,” he finally answers as he lights up his cigarette and props it into his mouth. He sucks it in slowly before letting the smoke out.

“They’re a crazy bunch, but… actually, no. It doesn’t really get better. This is more or less constant with them, y’know, this… rowdiness.”

“You’re one of the saner ones, I expect.” Law agrees, but then pauses. “Actually, I take that back. After all, you were the one who got me into this mess. I found you living on the street in winter.”

Sanji’s hand pauses midway to his mouth. Wow. This man has zero social tact, huh? What a way to bring _that_ circumstance into a conversation, casual and simple, like it’s nothing of the matter. The blond doesn’t really know how to respond to that, but the silence between them stretches and damn if he isn’t a guy who can’t stand to leave a conversation hanging. “Ah, yeah, well, ‘bout that…”

“It’s alright, you don’t have to say anything more about it to me.” The man answers, and hm. Maybe he’s not completely socially inadequate after all, if he knows how to leave it as that. “You’re related to the Vinsmoke Enterprise, aren’t you?”

Okay no, fuck that, this man has no tact and no sensitivities whatsoever, and how the hell did he know _that_? Sanji feels his heckles rise, and he doesn’t bother to push them down.

“How do you know that?” he keeps his voice even, controlled.

“Your friends mentioned it while I was still in the room.” The doctor shrugs, “It’s a big enterprise. I just happened to remember that bit of information.” From the way the doctor speaks, it seems like he knows more than just the typical civilian about the Vinsmoke Enterprise.

“I’m not related to them.” The blond asserts, but even he doesn’t sound convinced. Law stubs the rest of the cigarette into the ash tray.

“I don’t judge.” He answers. “All these enterprises… The Vinsmoke, Baroque Works, Thriller Bark, Big Mom… there have been more victims than there are survivors. That’s how capitalism works with such large enterprises. Humans are just capital to them, nothing more. If not, they are liabilities.” Sanji’s almost shocked to see the man’s steely irises boring into his. “Anyone who’s related to them is bound to have some ugly memories. I don’t care to know the details.”

“You missed out one of the biggest names.” Law stops just as he’s about to leave. Sanji smashes his remaining cigarette into the ashtray. “Don Quixote.” Sanji lets out a short laugh. “If there’s anything, they really do know how to choose their names, huh? Baroque Works, Thriller Bark… even Don Quixote. How do they come up with such nonsense?”

Sanji doesn’t notice Law, standing frozen in his spot. It’s such a reflex response, his muscles immediately tensing and his heart immediately racing like a fucking horse galloping into war and the thoughts being ripped out of his mind like the air just draining out of his lungs.

Don Quixote, huh? What a joke. Sanji probably thinks they got the inspiration from that classic novel, when in reality they’re just pretentious enough to change their family name into that genius literary masterpiece, like they deserve it. Like they’re a masterpiece who’s bound to change the times for the better.

Law wants to vomit at that thought.

He snaps out of it just before the silence gets too long and Sanji notices – he can already tell that the blond doesn’t like long hovering silences in-between conversation. Law struggles to think of a response to Sanji, but he only comes up with, “Yeah.”  

Shit, the blond must be more perceptive than he expects because the look Sanji gives him is far from convinced. But he doesn’t probe.

Before he re-enters the apartment, however, the blond says, “Vinsmoke and Don Quixote, huh? We are fucked up.”

Yeah. Yeah, they really are.

 

 

 

“ _You’re related to the Vinsmoke Enterprise, aren’t you?_ ”

Sanji turns, trying to ignore the words, but Law’s voice still echoes in his head, like an annoying reminder. He jolts up, having given up on getting a good night’s rest.

It’s been a while since someone has said it, straight to his face. It dredges up memories of a bitter time, memories Sanji would rather keep away, but they manifest anyway, stubbornly. They cling onto those ugly words and yank themselves to the forefront of his mind, and it’s hard to shove them away when there’s nothing else to think about. Nothing else to keep his mind.

Pudding sits in front of him, smiling her perfect radiant smile, the one that makes his heart leap out of his chest and causes the words to stutter in his mouth. She’s so beautiful, she’s so perfect, and Sanji’s a little frightened to find that he still thinks the same way as he did in the past: that she’s the only girl for him, that she’s the only person he wants for his entire lifetime. Sanji’s a little terrified at the thought that he – as much as he has mulled things over and as much as he knows logically that he really _shouldn’t_ – that he might actually be… that he might actually still be in love with her. Even up till now, even after all that she has done, that he might actually be pathetic enough to still be in love with her. With Pudding.

Even thinking it makes his heart clench and makes him want to vomit until everything is flushed down the toilet, as though puking would literally purge those accursed emotions out of his system. But even this _one_ memory of her that floats up his mind, even this bitter memory of her face makes him want to jump right back into the past and take her into his embrace again. To touch her soft, rosy cheeks again, to hear her lilting laughter and to feel her head resting against his shoulder, just because.

What would the rest of his friends think, if they know of this? This secret that he still clutches onto, a secret he’ll never divulge – perhaps never be _able_ to divulge – because it only shows how pitiable and desperate he is. How sad, how weak, how pathetic. Maybe the reason he can’t move on is because he’s not over her, and no matter how hard it is or how much it hurts, maybe he doesn’t _want_ to be over her. Because she’s the first real thing he’s ever had, she’s the first person he’s ever truly loved – despite all of his daily proclamations of love to the various passers-by he sees on the street. She’s the first person to make him feel like he’s worth something, and he doesn’t want to let that go.

Doesn’t want to let her go.

 _“You… you’re a Vinsmoke, aren’t you?”_ her nervous words come back to him. She had been playing with the spoon in her cup, fiddling with it – it’s her nervous hobby; her fingers clutch on to whatever’s nearest to her and she plays with it like it can dispel her nerves, but he always catches her anyway, and his immediate thought is always to be that someone, that person she can lean on whenever she’s afraid or tense or nervous, the person she’d clutch onto at times like these – and she stared at him with those huge chocolate eyes. At that time, he had thought they’d somehow looked pleading. _“As in… the Vinsmoke Enterprise.”_

He knows. He knows that she’s affiliated to the Big Mom Enterprise – she’s told him that early into their relationship – but he had never divulged his relation to the Vinsmokes to her before. It’s an ugly past, one that doesn’t define him – one that he _wouldn’t_ let define him – so he hadn’t thought it a problem that he’d kept it from her. That’s not who he is anymore, that’s a past long gone that no longer ties him down.

But that day, hearing her question… he had felt… what had he felt, exactly? Guilt? Horror? Apologetic? Fear? It’s an amalgamation of emotions wrapped up so thick he can’t really pull them apart enough to figure out what they are exactly. He remembers just sitting there, staring at her, eyes wide and jaw agape.

And she had smiled.

_“It’s okay. You could’ve told me, you know? I mean… you know about me. And Big Mom. I… I know how it’s like, being… well. You know. I understand. You didn’t have to hide it from me.”_

Up to today, he doesn’t know _how_ she had found out. It’s not like it’s in the Vinsmoke database – it’s not like his family wants anything to do with him either. He had abandoned them when they had abandoned him – it’s a mutually beneficial relationship after all – and since then, they’d never made contact. Never acknowledged each other, even as memories of the past. It’s like… they’re ghosts to each other. Barely there, barely present, barely significant, only very loosely tied to one another. It’s a connection he wants broken, but there are some ties that can’t ever fully be broken unfortunately, and family is one of them.

 _“I-I… I’m sorry, my… my love.”_ he remembers answering. He has had to force the words lodged in his throat out, his guilt a steady weight against his chest, and he hadn’t been able to look at Pudding in the face as he spoke. _“I… I didn’t think it was anything of… importance. I mean… my family and I…. we don’t get along. We’ve long been estranged from one another. I’m no longer tied to them, and vice versa. We’re… we’re nothing to each other. There’s nothing that matters there.”_

Had that been the moment? Had that been the moment that Pudding realised she’d been chasing after a futile mission? Was that the moment where Pudding had decided to sever all ties, even though the two of them were engaged, and decided to reap what little she could before running off?

Can he blame her?

He’s falling down that same path, but… it’s true. How can he blame her, when he had been the one keeping things from his fiancée? How can he blame her, when he’s led her on false pretences?

Sanji hears a knock he jumps. Who would knock on his door at this hour? Luffy and Usopp are camping in the living room, too lazy to return home, Nami’s claimed the guest room, and Zoro’s fast asleep in his own room. By the time he had gone back to his bed, all of them were fast asleep – deeply asleep.

He moves to the door hesitantly when the knock comes again, and it’s only at the second knock that he belatedly realises the knock isn’t coming from his door but… his window. Someone’s knocking at his window, somehow.

He’s strong, he knows that. Whoever it is, he can beat that person up to a pulp without waking anyone else up. But… his thoughts are fragmented, and his emotions are fragile, and he’s not sure that whoever it is outside, he can take it.

Besides, he lives on the 10th storey! It doesn’t even make any sense!

Sanji makes his way to the window, but there’s no one there. Instead, he finds a pigeon perched on his windowsill, its beady eyes glaring up at him.

And then it pokes the window with its beak, like a woodpecker.

Sanji lets loose a shaky breath. _Ah, just a stupid bird._ He begins to make his way back to the bed, but the pigeon knocks at the window again.

And again.

And again.

Again, like it’s trying to catch his attention.

It’s only then that he notices a message tied to the pigeon’s feet, and it’s like his mind and body are functioning separately of one another. As his mind is busy trying to reconcile the fact that he has just received a freaking _letter_ from what turns out to be a _messenger pigeon_ for god’s sake, his body robotically moves to the window, opens it, holds the pigeon down and removes the message from its leg.

After the pigeon flies away, his mind and body collide back into one being and Sanji finds himself staring at a small, rolled-up piece of paper in his hands. It’s only because of extreme shock that has his mind blank that he manages to unroll the paper in his palm.

_Come find me at our usual café._

  * _Pudding_



 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (dundundun) and the plot thickens...
> 
> Finally.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

 

“Mm, what’s that smell, it smells great,” Luffy’s body literally moves towards the source of the aroma, his nose leading the way, until he finally steps into the kitchen and moves towards what looks to him like a floating pan full of sizzling bacon.

“Step away Luffy, or you get none of it,” he jolts awake as he hears Sanji’s voice, and then Luffy looks at the pan again. It’s no longer floating, but being held up by a thin arm clad in fluffy grey hoodie. Luffy looks from that arm to the attached lanky body, and then up to the blue irises that are now staring straight at him. “Are you even awake?”

“Yeah, I am now!” Luffy answers. Sanji almost looks like Law – his dark circles are so heavy it seems like they’re pulling his eyes down. “Didn’t you sleep last night?”

“Drank too much, couldn’t sleep,” Sanji answers easily, piling the bacon onto a plate lined with greaseproof paper, and then proceeding to crack a few eggs onto the steaming pan. “The food will be ready soon, you can just sit outside and wait.”

Luffy frowns at the cook. Sanji’s always been easy to read – his face literally paints a picture of Sanji’s internal mood. If he’s tired, his fatigue is painted in lines drawn over his face and the black smeared under his eyes. If he’s angry, his mouth is tight and drawn and his eyes are sharp to the point of cutting.

It’s just figuring out the _reasons_ behind these emotions that are difficult. Sanji’s notoriously tight-lipped, especially when it comes to issues regarding himself, and it’s almost impossible to extricate information from him when he doesn’t want to tell it. Luffy’s usually pretty good at extracting information from the blond, but today, he opts not to. Instead, he waves a cheery greeting at Nami, who has only just come out of the guest room. She yawns loudly, not bothering to wave back, while Sanji coos over her appearance.

“Okay! I’ll wake Ace and Usopp and Zoro up!” Luffy bounds out of the kitchen, already hollering at the top of his lungs that breakfast is ready.

Nami plops her head down on the table as Sanji proceeds to set the table absent-mindedly, his thoughts fixated on the little scroll of letter he had received in the dead of the night. By a messenger pigeon. Knocking on his window.

From Pudding.

It’s lucky that he had drunk so much the night before, because otherwise he might’ve immediately bolted out the door. As it was, his body felt so heavy and his mind was so much of a wreck that he’d decided to leave it till the morning. Besides, if he had gone out at that time of night, he would’ve woken someone up, and that’d lead to more questions than he wants.

Also, the café wouldn’t even be open by then. He’s sure Pudding doesn’t mean it to be at that _very second_ , anyway.

“Sometimes I find myself so thankful to be waking up to your cooking,” Ace says as he plops down into a seat. Nami lifts her head at his arrival, and then, giving up on catching more sleep, stretches her arms over her head. “Seriously, I’m not kidding. Whenever your cooking’s involved, I find myself counting my blessings and thanking all the stars in the world that I have a brother who’d had the foresight to force himself into your life.”

Sanji actually feels a little touched, his body even gets that warm and tingly feeling inside as he hears Ace’s words, and he smiles. “Well, if it matters, I’m kind of glad that Luffy barged into my life unannounced too.” he pauses, “You know I mean you, too.”

“By extension,” Ace adds on, jokingly. Sanji shakes his head.

“Yes, fine, by extension.”

 “Ooh, what’s this! Breakfast! Ah, how I miss your cooking, Sanji!” Usopp jumps onto the chair before he even finishes his sentence.

“You guys act as though it’s been years since you’ve eaten my cooking, when it’s just been a night.” the blond lights up as he stands by the kitchen door, watching as Luffy and Zoro pile into the kitchen.

“One night feels like _eternity_ without your cooking!” Luffy proclaims, already stuffing his mouth full of bacon and ham and eggs. Nami swats away at the rubbery man’s wandering hands as it approaches her plate, and Usopp snickers at the sight.

“Please, you were sleeping like a fucking log the whole night, it’s not like time has even passed for you.”

Zoro glances at Sanji, then piles food onto his plate before Luffy gets the chance to inhale it all. It only takes mere minutes for them to finish all the food on the table, and then Usopp and Ace help to clean up and wash the dishes while Luffy and Nami and Zoro lounge on the sofa, not even bothering to switch on the tv, but opting for idle conversation instead.

“How’d you find that Law guy’s address anyway? In fact, how’d you manage to find out all of ours?” Zoro asks before belching loudly. Sanji scrunches his nose as he gets chased out of the kitchen by Usopp and Ace, and sits himself on the armchair nearby.

“Learn some manners, you oaf, especially when you’re in front of a lady,” he complains as he lights up another cigarette. “But yeah, Luffy, answer the question.”

“Well, I know some people.” Luffy shrugs the question off as casually as all the other times they’ve bothered to ask. “Ah, you don’t have to worry ‘bout it.”

“You do know that it can be considered invasion of privacy, right?” Sanji says, leaning back on his armchair, not too bothered by Luffy’s lackadaisical response. “I won’t be shocked if that Law creep sues you. It’s not like you were even well acquainted before you barged into his place. I mean, at least in my case, you’ve been to my old man’s restaurant a couple of times while I was still working there, enough to be considered a frequent customer, so we were quite well acquainted by then. But that socially inept creep though…”

“Well, I’ve spoken to him one other time before too! Ace and I saw him at Vivi’s café!” Luffy laughs. “That’s enough, isn’t it?” Nami cocks an eyebrow at that; she hasn’t heard from Vivi from a while, and now thinking about it, why hadn’t they invited Vivi last night? Her gaze darts over to Ace’s form as he hands Usopp a dry dish, and then she sighs.

This is why it’s never a good idea to date within the same friend group. There’s always going to be lingering tension and awkwardness when things end, no matter how amicably. She remembers the months after she’d broken up with Paulie and shudders; Paulie wasn’t even part of their circle, and even _that_ break-up had strained things between her and Franky – at least for a while. Yet she’s sure that things are bound to repeat again, because if she wasn’t certain before, she’s now pretty damn sure that Franky has a thing for Robin. And it’s not like they wouldn’t make a good couple… actually, if Nami thinks hard about it, they would kind of work well together, but…

Ah well. None of her business. It’s best to leave these things be.

“It really isn’t,” Zoro pipes up, and Nami’s suddenly lost in the conversation, until she remembers that they are talking about Law. “And yeah, he’s creepy as heck, isn’t he? What was with those things he said when we were playing that game? Who the _hell_ knows how to respond to all that?”

Sanji lets out a hollow laugh. Right, those creepy ass words the man had said to a bunch of people he _barely knew_. Things that are better kept inside. As in, deep, deep, _deep_ inside, locked tight, not something to _casually reveal_ in a party with strangers.

The man had mentioned something about his family being all dead, hadn’t he? Now that Sanji knows the man’s affiliated with Don Quixote somehow, he’s almost completely sure that the statement hadn’t been false.

Recalling that conversation brings Sanji back to the message Pudding had sent him, and the blond glances up at the clock. It’s nearly nine, and the café they used to frequent opens at ten. If he wants to go there, he has to get Luffy and Usopp and Ace and Nami out of his apartment. And then attempt to go out without Zoro getting suspicious, because the damn marimo _knows_ he has the day off today as well, and he knows how much Sanji likes to stay home alone on his days off. It’s frustrating, but Zoro’s been paying attention. Ever since Sanji’s disappearance, Zoro’s been paying more attention than ever and if it wasn’t annoying before, it’s absolutely exasperating right now, when he actually has somewhere to sneak out to. It’s not like Zoro _hovers_ around him – and Sanji nearly laughs at the thought of that, because that just churns out the image of Zoro stalking around outside his room like an overly-concerned parent, which is definitely not an image that the stoic policeman would _ever_ have – and it’s not like Zoro probes either. Zoro’s just… paying more attention, that’s it. He usually pays attention, but in the past, it’s usually laced with some sort of nonchalance about it. Now Zoro doesn’t hide it as much. It’s as though he _wants_ Sanji to know that he’s there, that he’s actually listening – that he actually cares.

When Sanji had woken up, he didn’t really know what his decision was. Now, it seems like there’s no decision to be made. His heart knows what it wants, and all it needs now is a way to get out without arousing suspicion. Which is a challenge in and of itself, especially with so many of his nosey friends crowded in one room. The small scroll tucked in the pocket of his hoodie seems to carry the entire weight of his dread, and he resists the urge to reach in and hold it.

“Don’t you have work or something?” Sanji asks as Usopp and Ace finish with the cleaning up. Usopp stares at Sanji for a moment, uncomprehending, until his eyes bulge open and his mouth falls.

“Oh _shit,_ what time is it,” he’s already throwing his things back into his bag as he glances up at the clock, “I’ve a meeting with a client at _ten_ and oh my god one hour isn’t enough time to go home, wash up, and head back out for the meeting, I am so _dead_ –”

“You can wash up here,” Zoro offers, resting his feet on the coffee table. “Not like you haven’t done so a million times before. You can wear the cook’s clothes.”

“Oi!” Sanji says, out of reflex more than anything, when in fact his mind is churning. If Usopp washes up here, it’ll probably mean that…

“Thank you, you’re a life saviour! Um, then in that case, Sanji, could you… possibly… send… me?”

Damn, he wishes Usopp hasn’t asked, even though he has already seen it coming a mile away. He can’t refuse – he’s never able to, really – and now that Usopp looking at him with those eyes, how can he even begin to refuse?

“Yeah, yeah, whatever, hurry up and shower then,” the blond answers as gruffly as he possibly can. Usopp jumps up, whooping, before rushing into the bathroom. Nami rises out of the chair just as Sanji ruffles his hands through his hair – he obviously hasn’t taken the time to brush it yet. Sanji’s obviously bothered by something – what it is, she has absolutely no idea – and when she passes him by and instinct grips her, she follows it.

Her fingers sneak into the open pocket of his grey hoodie and snatch the tiny rolled-up paper out, and then Nami’s grinning wide at the blond as he stares at her.

“You’ve any orange juice in the fridge?” Her question is easy, casual, and of course Sanji jumps over himself to go and get it for her.

There’s no need to really be subtle about it, but still, she leans against the wall, back facing everyone else, and unrolls the piece of paper.

“Here you go, Nami-swan!” Sanji hands her the orange juice and she accepts it, turning around to walk back to the living room with him. She lets the man lead – he’s only a couple steps in front of her – and then returns the rolled paper into the cook’s pocket.

Zoro’s eyes catch her, and while she’s certain that he hasn’t really seen anything, she knows that his gut instinct is as strong as hers – at least, hers in term of snatching away things she can somehow tell is precious – and she gives an almost imperceptible shake of her head. Her eyes dart to Sanji for a second before she locks gaze back with Zoro, and the man nods his head, turning away from her and back toward the tv.

It’s sad that this is what it’s coming to, that she has to sneak and sniff around the blond just to find out what’s wrong with him. And it’s even sadder than it seems like all their friends are in it together – it’s impossible that Luffy and Ace haven’t noticed their interaction, but the brothers are keeping quiet about it, opting to fight over the remote instead. They have to pass notes, exchange whispers, hide and dig and hunt just to scrounge up crumbs of information that they can possibly use to help Sanji, because obviously the man’s still keeping things from them.

All the more obvious from the message she has just read. It’s difficult for her to quash the anger that’s beginning to swell in her chest, the indignation and horror and dread of it all, but she does, and she still grins and laughs and makes jokes as she goes along with Sanji’s playacting. The message looms in the back of her mind, like a gun in the dark, and there’s no way she won’t act against it.

Not when they’ve finally got Pudding.

 

 

 

“I’m really happy for you, you know?” Usopp had said, handing Sanji his beer. It was one of those days where they’d both ended late from work, but were both equally reluctant to return home. They sat in the corner table at a bar, a plate of untouched truffle fries on the table.

“Yeah,” Sanji answered, picking at a fry, but not eating it. “Yeah, I’m really happy too.” The smile that came to his face was almost impossible to stop, and he hid the smile behind his drink. “How’re things with Kaya?” At that point, Sanji had only just met Pudding, and Usopp had already been dating Kaya for half a year.

“Well, it’s –” Usopp’s thoughts were interrupted by the low hum of his phone’s vibration, and he opened up the new message he’d received. “Ah, Zoro’s lost, again.”

It was weird, but the three of them had formed some sort of after-work gang of some sorts. Perhaps because they had jobs that ended at the most obscene of hours, and sometimes after a whole day of working, they just needed another’s company to vent or even just engage in mindless chatter. It was also a coincidence that the three of them happened to be made up of the only three people currently attached in their small motley crew.

“Tell him to turn _right_ after the convenience store, not left.” Sanji finally picked the fry up and popped it into his mouth. He wasn’t really one for eating fried, greasy food like this – especially when bars liked to douse them in so much salt that his tongue tingled after eating – but his mouth was itching for something to bite on. He couldn’t smoke indoors in a bar, and he didn’t really want to step out. Not with the comfort of simply _being there_ , with Usopp, easing into his skin.

“And now he’s calling me. Hold on, I’ll go get him,” Usopp made a move to stand, but Sanji pressed a hand to the man’s shoulder. Sanji didn’t want to leave his seat, he really didn’t, but… well, it was second nature to him already, wasn’t it? He couldn’t watch people do things, even if it wasn’t for him. It was second nature for him to take their place, to do what he could, to make sure his friends were comfortable.

Maybe it was just the delightful perks of having waited in a restaurant for his whole life.

“Nah, I’ll go.” Usopp opened his mouth to protest, but before he could get a word out, Sanji continued, “I need a smoke anyway.”

Sanji took Usopp’s phone from him, placing it next to his ear as he pushed his chair back and made his way out of the bar. “Yeah, where’re you?”

If Zoro was surprised at Sanji’s voice, he didn’t show it. “Some intersection.”

“Yeah, you buffoon, there’re thousands of intersections in this city. Be more specific.” Sanji was already lighting up a cigarette the moment his feet passed the threshold of the bar, and he propped it into his mouth as he waited for Zoro to reply.

It took a while, but Sanji was used to figuring out Zoro’s obscure directions. By the time the two of them made it back to the bar, the plate of fries was half empty.

“Sorry, you guys took a while,” Usopp said sheepishly, “I ordered your drink for you.” He directed it to Zoro, who grunted as a response.

A comfortable silence fell between the three of them as they quietly sipped at their drinks or nibbled on salty fries.

“Actually… guys, there’s something I’ve got to say.” Usopp finally broke the silence. He was answered by the sharp stares of his two friends, and he chugged down the rest of his beer before continuing, “Yeah, well… um… can I ask, how is it like with you guys? You know, with Kuina and with Pudding?”

“What d’you mean?” Zoro’s drink had finally arrived, and he took a gulp of it as he waited for Usopp’s response.

“Like… how… _passionate_ is it?” Usopp turned his red face to the plate of fries in front of him, which was almost empty. “Like… okay, I don’t know, but, you know? Shouldn’t there be some heat? Some… fervour?”

“You don’t get that with Kaya?” Sanji questioned, and Usopp shook his head slowly.

“I mean, at first, I was really happy, you know? I’ve liked her since we were children! I’ve grown up dreaming about _marrying_ her, and that sort of thing just doesn’t go away that easily, you know? And when we first got together, I was so happy, but I was so terrified, I was terrified that it’d somehow change things between the two of us. But nothing changed, we were exactly the same, and that was great for a while, I was so relieved. But then it’s been a while, it’s been a _longer_ while, and… sometimes I find myself wondering, shouldn’t things between us _have_ changed? We’re no longer in the same place as we were once before, there’s another layer to our relationship now, yet how is it that nothing has changed? How is it that I’m treating her almost exactly the same as I did when we were simply friends? How is it that… that there seems to be nothing else there? Is this natural?”

“Maybe it’s because you’ve been together for a while?” Sanji offered, but Usopp shook his head almost immediately after the words came out of Sanji’s mouth.

“It’s been like that _since the beginning_.” The words almost came out in a whisper. “There’s been no heat. There’s been no passion – nothing. From the beginning.”

The three of them lapsed into silence. Sanji didn’t really know what to say. He had never been in a serious relationship before, and he’d only just begun dating Pudding. But even so, he liked her – he wouldn’t say he _loved_ her, not so soon, not yet, he’s not that delusional to think what he had for her is already _love_ – he liked her so much he wanted to see her every day. He liked her so much he found himself constantly texting her, calling her, meeting up with her in the slivers of free time they had both shared. He thought about her constantly, about what to bring the next time he saw her, what to do the next time he met her, how he could help her, how he could take better care of her.

Maybe there was something wrong in the fact that Usopp felt none of it with Kaya. But… it was Usopp and Kaya, for god’s sake. They were _the couple_ of the group – the childhood-friends-turned-lovers, the thing films and dramas were made of! Sanji found it difficult to wrap around the thought that the couple was not as happy or perfect as they seemed.

“If you don’t think it’s normal, then it isn’t.” Zoro piped up from his corner, his brows scrunched together. “You’re in a relationship, not a friendship, and if you think there’s something wrong, then there probably is.”

Usopp turned his pleading eyes on Sanji, who finally shrugged. “Yeah, I agree with the marimo. At least there should be some passion in the beginning. If there wasn’t, then… maybe you guys never left the friendship stage after all.”

Usopp smashed his face into his palms, “So… I have to break up with her, then?” His words were muffled, but his voice still sounded broken anyway. “How could I break up with her? She’s _Kaya_! I can’t… I mean, how can I…”

“Maybe you should give it some time.” Sanji placed a hand on Usopp’s back. “Maybe the problem is just that – that you guys haven’t actually left the friendship stage. Maybe you should try something more, try to… take it up a notch. And see if things work.” Sanji didn’t want them to break up as much as Usopp didn’t want it to happen. Usopp seemed so shattered by that thought, so crushed, and even though the blond knew it was probably the amalgamation of all his childhood fantasies and expectations and dreams that were piling up and weighing down on him – things that were never meant to be, after all – Sanji couldn’t stop the romantic side in him to root for the two of them. The ideal couple. The perfect match. The childhood friends slash lovers.

They were things dreams were made of, after all.

“If you know it, you know it.” Zoro asserted, and Sanji wasn’t at all surprised by that grunt’s response. The man had always been like that, but nobody was ever that _certain_ of things. Not everybody was like that bull-headed marimo, not everybody had that sharp pull of instinct in their guts and iron-clad conviction in their intuition. Sometimes people were _confused,_ and sometimes it made sense to try to unravel the confusion and figure things out. Sanji didn’t think Zoro understood that. “If it isn’t right, you… you shouldn’t drag things out. You should just end it. It’s better for everyone in that way.”

There was something in the way Zoro had said those words, something in the hesitation and in the man’s voice, that struck Sanji.

“Zoro… is there something wrong? With you and Kuina?” The blond ventured. He wasn’t entirely sure if the man would reply him – despite having had these drinking sessions in the late of the night, they’d never really had proper heart-to-heart conversations or anything like that. He wouldn’t be surprised if the brute just grunted out something monosyllabic and non-committal, but… Sanji hoped he wouldn’t.

Even Usopp was staring at Zoro now. Zoro took a deep breath before answering, “Yeah,” but offered no other explanation. As usual.

And as usual, it was up to them to try to squeeze something out of his completely unhelpful response.

“What’s going on?” Usopp probed, because Usopp was better at this than Sanji, especially when it came to Zoro. “You can tell us, you know. I mean, you’ve already one person here with a messed-up relationship.” Zoro cracked a smile at that, and look how easy it was for Usopp and Zoro. Sanji couldn’t ever imagine a time where he’d possibly be able to get that kind of reaction from the marimo. He couldn’t even imagine having a proper heartfelt, sincere conversation with the man without someone else present to dissolve the tension, even.

“Yeah… well,” Zoro chugged the rest of his beer. “Don’t think things are working out.”

Sanji rolled his eyes, “Yeah, and that’s why we’re asking you _why_.” Look, why couldn’t Sanji just engage in a proper conversation with the man? Why did it always devolve into something like this? He couldn’t even stop himself, the sarcasm and annoyance just leaked out of his voice just like _that_.

Zoro shot Sanji a glare, but he did continue, at least, “Dunno.”

That was frustrating, but… it seemed sincere. Genuine. Perhaps the dumb brute really couldn’t figure out what was going on in his relationship.

“Like how?” Usopp prodded at Zoro’s arm. “You’ve got to give us more than that. Look at me, I practically spilled all my guts, so shamelessly at that! You’ve got to do better than me! Come on, give it your best shot, I know you can do it!” But Usopp’s words withered away when Zoro glared at the man from the corner of his eyes.

And then Zoro let out a deep sigh. “I don’t know. I want to know, but I just… _don’t_.” His shoulders sagged, as though at the weight of his admission, at the heaviness of his ignorance. “Think we’re too similar, or something. Maybe. Just…” He pressed his palm into his forehead. “So difficult to just _be_ with her. Sometimes I just wanna talk, but then, I don’t know, things just spiral out of control and we fight and things just get worse and, argh, I don’t know.”

Sanji’s heart clenched in his chest. The marimo really seemed genuinely distraught over this, and he had never seen the man like this before. This upset, this… this _defeated_.

“Well, you can talk to Sanji.” Usopp suddenly said, and Sanji jerked so violently he might’ve gotten whiplash. At both men’s heavy stares drilling a hole into him, Usopp fumbled to explain, “I-I mean, uh, you guys quarrel all the time, right, and sometimes, you guys can barely get along, b-but… you know, you still… um, you still… get along? You’re still close friends? Your personalities are quite… um, similar, as well, but… you can do it? So maybe… just… consider how you and Sanji are like, and… try to apply the same thing to Kuina? Maybe it’ll work?”

Sanji opened his mouth to reply, but then closed it again, finding no words. Then opened it again. Then closed it again. Like a dying fish at his restaurant.

Zoro was no different. The man looked as equally taken aback as Sanji felt; his jaw hung open and he stared at Usopp for a moment, before he finally blustered, “I… well, I… it’s different! I’m not in a relationship with Sanji!”

The silence that loomed over them after that was palpable. Sanji felt his face heating up, and his gaze darted all over the place, he couldn’t bring it to rest on anything in particular. Usopp’s eyes were wide and he just stared at Zoro mutely, dumbly. Zoro seemed as shocked as the rest of them that he had even responded at all, that those words had come out of his mouth at all.

And then, almost all at the same time, they scrambled to reply.

“Not like I’d even want to be in a relationship with _you_!”

“That’s not what I meant!”

“What are you talking about?”

The three of them stared at each other for a second, and then suddenly, Usopp burst out laughing. And then Sanji. And then Zoro. And laughter suddenly flooded the bar, it was just so _funny_ and _wacky_ and completely _absurd,_ everything that had been said and thought of so far, because who the hell would ever lump Zoro and Sanji _together_ , that was an explosion waiting to happen, it’d be World War Three.

The laughter slowly faded away with Usopp wiping at the corners of his eyes, Sanji clutching onto his stomach, and Zoro’s smile wider than it had ever been before. The three of them slowly calmed down, traces of mirth still evident on their reddened faces.

“Oh my god, that was the funniest – I haven’t had a laugh like that in a long time, oh man,” Usopp said, slightly breathless.

“Fuck,” Sanji agreed, shaking his head. “What even was that?”

Zoro nodded head slowly, but then his forehead creased up. “You see? It’s just… it’s so easy with you guys. Some stupid shit gets said, we laugh about it, then it’s over. With Kuina, it’s just…”

“Like you’ve wisely pointed out before, marimo, that’s because you’re in a _relationship_ with her.” Maybe the blond was wrong, after all. Zoro did have feelings of doubt, he wasn’t always certain all the time. Somehow that made him feel slightly better. “You’re not in a relationship with us, you can’t compare the two together.”

“But… Usopp’s right, though, isn’t he?” Zoro continued, mulling over his words as he spoke them out. “I argue with you all the time, I can’t stand you most of the time and we always come into conflict at some time or another. But we’re still okay despite all of that. How is it that it’s so much easier with you than it is with her?”

Sanji didn’t have a response for that. He’d never thought of their relationship as that way, but… yeah, he supposed that was true. They argued constantly, they couldn’t stand one another half the time, but they were still friends. Nothing had come between that. They could still get along, it never felt as though there was any conflict large enough or serious enough to ruin things between the two of them. Maybe it was a problem that Zoro seemed to feel that he couldn’t get over that with Kuina.

Usopp just shrugged. “I don’t know, man. Maybe just give it some more time, figure things out.”

“Yeah.”

The rest of the night passed just like that, with them mulling over their own thoughts.

It was easier, then.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, it's still slow-moving, but things will get faster in the next chapter (I think)! I really do enjoy writing the scenes in the past, just things of their friendships and the weird shit they say etc. Anyway, yep, hope you guys enjoyed!


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The semester's finally over! Had a little trouble with this chapter, but it's out now, so yay!

**Chapter Ten**

 

“Yeah, so basically, the green would complement the grey, you know, and it would give a sort of… hm, I would put it as a more… nature-y, calm aesthetic, because green represents nature and freshness, right, it is –”

Sanji hums under his breath as he turns the wheel, and the car slides into the left lane. Usopp is busy rehearsing for his client’s meeting, and if Sanji’s actually _listening_ to the man, he’d have known that Usopp is obviously nervous and fumbling for things to say. And usually Sanji _is_ the sort of person to listen and to offer every bit of advice he can think up, if it’d help his friend in the slightest.

But today, he just… can’t. His mind keeps drifting over to the café in question, and his heartbeat speeds up to an alarming rate at the very _idea_ of even going there. Just thinking about it makes the tips of his ears heat up and somehow, he already feels guilty for even entertaining the mere thought of meeting Pudding, of going behind his friends’ backs to seek out the woman they hate. He’s tapping his fingers against the soft leather of the steering wheel, biting on the inside of his cheek.

He needs a cigarette, badly.

His ribcage is about to burst out of his chest and he isn’t even on the way to the damn café yet, he isn’t even _near_ , and maybe that should make him reconsider things. Maybe the fact that his body is actually repulsed at the thought of betraying his friends should be enough warning for him to stop and _think_ it over, once more, but he can’t. He can pretend that he’s going to reconsider things, he can pretend that he’s going to be logical and practical this time and that there’s no way he’s going to go back to reconcile – or whatever it is that Pudding wants – with a woman who had jilted him – who had left him at the goddamn altar – but he knows that that’s all it will be: a flimsy pretence.

Because he’s going. He’d leap over pools of fire for her, he’d jump straight into hell for her if she asked. And if that’s a worrying thought, then well… it can just join the rest of them in the chest he has locked up tight in his mind.

Fuck, what _is_ Pudding going to talk to him about? Does she really want to… reconcile things? Would Sanji accept?

What rubbish. Of course, Sanji would accept – he would accept her as long as she opened her arms out to him. She was the best he’s ever had – the best he’s ever deserved, he doesn’t even deserve her really, she’s so much better than him, how could he even deign to refuse?

_“You are better than you think you are, please remember this.”_

He slams on the brakes, and the car skids to a stop abruptly. Usopp shrieks.

“Sanji! What was that for?” he yells, his head spinning around in alarm as his gaze darts around. The road is, fortunately, empty, and Usopp lets out a sigh before he turns his eyes back to Sanji. Whatever words he has prepared, though, they die in his throat as he stares at the blond a little longer. “Sanji?”

Nami. Nami had said that to him, hadn’t she? Sanji gives his head a shake. Those words seem so far away now, like a relic of a time long gone. He vaguely remembers staring at those words, mulling at them for what had seemed like hours on end, but the monster in his head refused to let them in. He’d stared at them, wishing somehow that those words would make a difference.

But they hadn’t. He’s just so fucked up that even consoling words from _Nami_ couldn’t help anymore. And now he’s fucking things up even more by going to meet Pudding, and he can’t even bring himself to stop.

Rain begin pattering down against the windshield. They are light, but the sounds they make against the car seem to reverberate in the silence.

Sanji can still feel Usopp’s stare boring into him, and he wants to tell Usopp, he really does, he wants to tell Usopp every poisonous thought that has gone through him, every disgusting urge that he has, he wants to let everything out in this deafening silence, about Pudding, about the message, about the Vinsmokes, Big Mom…  

He tries to unclench his jaws, but they won’t let him. His mouth stays firmly shut and the words crawl up his throat, only to stumble and plummet back down into the pits of his stomach. They weigh him down like boulders, but he can’t seem to muster enough strength to push them back out.

“S-Sanji?” Usopp’s gaze darts between Sanji’s eyes. “Are… are you okay?”

He swallows.

“Y-yeah,” the exhaust of a machine long dead. “Yeah, um, sorry. Sorry. Where do you need to be, again?”

“Sanji.” Usopp says, more firmly this time. He searches Sanji’s face, but it doesn’t seem like he finds any answers from it. How could he, when Sanji himself has been searching for the answers for forever? If there was ever anything to find, there’s nothing now. “Sanji, you know you can talk to me about anything, right?”

A smile forces its way up his lips without him even being conscious of it. He’s so used now; it seems like he has a storage of spare smiles and fake laughter hidden somewhere, endless in supply. They come out so easily, it’s almost mechanical. “Yeah, of course I know.” His hand, all on its own, reaches over to ruffle Usopp’s mess of curls. “Red, green, yellow, right?”

Usopp frowns, but the blond knows the man understands the code words. Or safe words, whatever. It’s something that the long-nosed had made up a while ago, back when he was about to confess to Kaya and he needed something to fall back on in case he backed out or needed assistance or whatever. Green meant he was ready to go, and unsurprisingly, he’d never used that word before. Yellow meant he needed some support, and red meant… well, it meant that Sanji abandoned everything he had at hand to rush over and pull Usopp out of whatever sticky situation it was that Usopp got stuck in.

Usopp was in the red almost all the time.

“Green?” Usopp tries hopefully, still frowning. The smile Sanji has on his lips withers, but it’s immediately replaced by another one in his supply closet.

“There’s nothing to be green lit.” Sanji answers easily.

“Sanji –”

“You’re gonna be late.”

He knows exactly what’s needed to be said in order to distract his best friend. Usopp lets out a yelp, his gaze flying to his watch, as Sanji starts up the car once again, but the traffic light in front is red.

It’s always red.

 

 

 

 _Silence_ plays… with silence.

Law frowns, staring at his phone. The song’s playing alright, but nothing’s coming out. He raises the volume, and it takes a few seconds before the first notes come in.

Singular piano keys begin the prelude of the song. Law relaxes, raising the volume a couple more bars just as the voice finally comes in.

It’s a Chinese song he’s listening to, courtesy of Penguin. Language doesn’t really matter to Law when it comes to listening to music, and Penguin does have shockingly great taste in music sometimes. Penguin’s half-Chinese, and Chinese songs are really all that connects Penguin to his roots… or whatever. That man spouts crap half the time, and Law knows for a fact that the man loves eating his dim sums, so of course he’s connected to his roots from more than just Mandopop, but it doesn’t matter.

The song that’s playing is a sad one. The singer’s melancholy is etched in every note, every line, and even without understanding the language, Law feels the man’s pain. His loss is acutely heard in every hitch of breath, in the slur of his words, in his voice caught in his throat, and it’s made all the more prominent with just a simple piano and strings background.

The first chorus ends just as the light turns, and Law crosses the road with the rest of the working crowd. He’s running a little late, but well, he owns his clinic, so what does it matter? There’s the fragrance of coffee lingering in the air, and he follows it blindly to the step of a humble little coffee house.

The moment he enters, the smell of warm pastries floods his nose. The song draws to a close, and he hangs his headphones around his neck. He’s calm today, settled in his skin and composed, and part of it is because of the music that helped to centre him. The other part of it is the aroma of coffee, mingled with the cosiness of this coffee house.

“Hi, may I take your order please?” A woman at the counter asks. It seems like the café has just opened. Some of the staff are still wiping the tables, while others are busy bringing out trays of freshly baked pastries to the front.

Law already likes it here, and if the food’s good as an added bonus, he might just frequent this place more often.

“Coffee, black, and…” his gaze roves around the display glass. “A blueberry muffin,” he decides.

He pays the cashier, and after he’s gotten his order, he finds himself a seat by the window. A light drizzle is beginning to fall over the concrete jungle outside, and he watches as people throw their hands up as a meagre shield from the rain as they scamper off to their respective workplaces.

Law picks up his coffee and takes a small sip out of it, when his phones buzzes. He knows who it is before even picking it up and answering without even waiting for the person on the other end to talk. “Yeah, gonna be a little late, you and Shachi can go grab some breakfast first.”

The other end is silent for a moment, before the person finally speaks. “You’re in a café again, Boss?”

Law smiles. Penguin knows just how much he enjoys going to cafes. Caffeine, the aroma of baked, warm goods, what’s there not to like? And at this timing, it’s almost always empty and quiet. “Yeah.” He takes a cursory bite out of his muffin, and it’s shockingly good. It’s not overly sweet, and the blueberry bursts in his mouth as he chews. “I might frequent this one, it’s pretty good.”

“Oh ho! If the Boss says it’s good, it must be!”

“I’m not going to bring either you or Shachi here,” Law warns. He likes them enough, but they’d just ruin the peace of the place.

“Aw, c’mon!” There’s squabbling in the background, and Law knows that Shachi must be fighting with Penguin over the phone. Penguin’s obviously managed to hold onto his phone, because his next question goes, “have you listened to the song yet? It’s great, isn’t it!”

“Yeah, it is,” Law admits. He looks up as someone else enters the café, but turns his attention back to the window afterwards. “What’s the song about?”

“Dunno,” Penguin laughs. “Just listened to it on a rainy day after my break-up, and _damn_ this song’s so sad, but somehow it helped! I don’t even know what the man’s even saying! He’s good, isn’t he? My mom _loves_ him.”

Law takes another sip. From his peripheral, he can see the person who’d entered squirming around, and it’s annoying, but it’s not like Law can do anything about it. “It’s an old song?”

“Nah. Actually, I don’t really know. But yeah, anyway, catch this! Remember that day when Shachi accidentally hit on that old man in the bar? Oh my god, you won’t _believe_ what happened!”

“Why does everything that comes out of your mouth sound like a clickbait article?” Of course, Penguin ignores Law’s words.

Law’s attention snaps to the person who’d entered – it’s a woman, he realises – when he hears a loud _clang_ against the table. The woman has just toppled her cup onto the table, and coffee is spilling out onto the lacquered wooden surface. She raises her hands to her mouth, gasping out a quick apology to the serving staff who rushes over, and then fumbles in her bag for something.

Just one other person, and already the peace is shattered. Law lets out a deep sigh.

“Yeah, anyway, I’m done here. I’ll reach the office in around fifteen minutes.” He hears Penguin’s muffled reply before ending the call. Finishing the rest of his coffee and leaving most of the muffin untouched, Law gets up to his feet.

“I’m really sorry, I just wasn’t paying attention,” the woman says, when her phone blares suddenly. She jumps, fumbling to grab her phone, but her phone bounces out of her hands and clatters onto the floor in front of Law.

Law reaches down to pick it up, glancing at the name on the screen: Mama. Who even calls their mother that nowadays?

When Law looks up to return the woman’s phone back to her, she snatches it out of his hands. Her eyes are wide, and she only glances at him for a moment before she presses her phone to her ear.

“Hello? Yes… yes, I mean, no. Yes. I’m just… no, no, I’ll be back soon, I’m just running some errands…”

The woman notices Law staring, and she glares at him. It’s an abrupt change; her eyes, once wide and innocent, narrow to slits, and her lips thin. It changes her entire demeanour in an unnerving way, and Law forces himself to look away.

He walks out the café, his heart pounding in his chest. He’s not sure if his instinct is right, and he hopes it isn’t, but…

Who even calls their mother ‘Mama’ nowadays? Well yeah, it’d slipped his mind earlier, but now he remembers.

There’s someone who’s usually referred to as Mama. He wouldn’t say that it’s said affectionately, but forcibly, and regardless, it’s not a person he wants to see, much less be affiliated with.

The faster he gets out of here, the better.

Something suddenly clicks in his head, and he stops as he turns the corner. He doesn’t know how the girl looks like, but people affiliated with Big Mom don’t just casually stroll around in the streets like this.

Cursing under his breath, Law takes out his phone and begins dialling.

 

 

 

“What you’re saying is, Pudding has somehow made contact with him,” Zoro’s arms are crossed tight against his chest, a frown pulling at his brows. The breaths he takes are low and even, almost as though to compose himself.

Nami nods. She wants to shout, but… well, she has done quite a bit of that already. They’re all seated around the coffee table, the accursed square of paper lying innocuously right smack in the middle of the table. She turns her face away from it like it physically _repulses_ her.

“Where even _is_ their usual place?” Ace pipes up, but none of them have anything to offer. They… aren’t really involved with the whole Pudding-Sanji-relationship thing. They have never been, really, and that’s the biggest red flag they should’ve noticed, because Sanji’s the sort of person who’d pour his heart and soul out to a relationship and his tidal wave of emotions almost always certainly flooded them, as well.

There was that time, when Sanji had dated this pretty restaurant owner called Conis. She was from France, too, and Sanji had been convinced that they were meant to be – in fact, his exact words were possibly, that she’s a ‘godsend’. The moment he opened his mouth, he spoke of Conis. Where his sentences ended, they ended on Conis. It was like clockwork; open, Conis, close, Conis, ding, ding, ding, repeat as the hours crawl by.

Of course, it was way too much information; he even gushed about the intricacies of their _sex life_ , for god’s sake, and no one wanted to hear about that! Nami had sworn to herself that if Sanji ever mentioned Conis’ supple, fair skin just _one more time_ , she’d take it upon herself to tear out his vocal cords and rip apart his pharynx just to save herself from hearing his obnoxious _coos_ ever again.

Sanji did his usual fawning over Pudding, but… if Nami really thought it through, there was a significant lack of _details._ Pudding’s beautiful, Pudding’s the sweetest chocolate he’s ever known, the softest marshmallow, the most intricately-cut diamond, the gentlest poodle, a fairy in a goddess’ body, an angel flown from heaven, the dawning rays of sun just as it breaks through the horizon, etc. etc. – and these are actual descriptors Sanji has actually used on a real-life human being, Nami can’t believe she’s survived through hearing them all to be honest – but he never gave anything concrete.

First date? She doesn’t even remember how Sanji and Pudding had _met_ , much less their first date. Yet she knows exactly the second Conis and Sanji had, because Sanji had forced it into every single conversation for an entire week. Sanji was still with his father’s restaurant, Baratie, at that time, and they were hired to cater this extravagant dinner party for some huge company, and Conis was somehow invited as some restaurant guest or something – Nami isn’t too clear on the specifics ­– but anyway, the moment Sanji’s food had touched her lips, Conis was adamant that she had to give her compliments to the chef face-to-face.

Only it ended up lip-to-lip, somehow, by a stroke of pure chance (Nami still doesn’t believe that Sanji wasn’t the one who had forced this ‘chance’ encounter, but this is the story he goes by, so what the hell), and Sanji managed to ask her out, Conis miraculously hadn’t rejected despite Sanji’s overt fawning – or so Nami assumes – and they had their first date right in Conis’ restaurant.

Look at that! Nami couldn’t make this up even if she wanted to, she isn’t Usopp! And she’s sure if she prods, a lot more of Sanji and Conis’ history would flood her mind. How can it be that with Pudding, there’s nothing coming to her?

Nami turns to Luffy, “Luffy do you have connections for this one?” She really hopes he says yes, because knowing Sanji, the moment he even glimpses that accursed woman’s face, all his defences – if he’s even going in with any – will crumble apart, and there’s no way he’s going to survive this encounter unscathed. Pudding is a malicious, scheming monster, and Sanji’s her plaything.

Luffy frowned, pulling out his phone and sifting through his contacts just when his phone lights up. He jumps, fumbling with the phone a little, before hastily picking up the call and pressing it hard against his ear.

His eyes widen and he bounds up and down excitedly. Luffy’s frantically thanking the person as he ends the call, and then he beams wide at them.

“He found her! He found her! My contact’s found Pudding! It’s been _months_!”

“She must’ve only gone out of hiding to seek Sanji out,” Ace ponders aloud, “but who is she, exactly, that she can slink back and forth into the shadows, unseen? What does she want from Sanji?” Zoro’s already moving towards the door, shoving his arms through his coat sleeves. He tosses a glance back.

“What’re you waiting for? Let’s go.”

 

 

 

Three cups of coffee. One carrot cake.

He stares at his fingers; there are tiny scars that mar his fair skin, nicks and pricks from knives and graters of sorts. A small raised circular patch of skin stretched between his thumb and index finger ­– a burn, from when he’d dropped the kettle when he was younger. A diagonal scar across the side of his palm to the base of his middle finger; him fumbling to hide away his knife just as Vinsmoke Judge stalked by the kitchen.

It’d hurt so bad, he had to tilt his head up and blink the tears away. The rivulets of crimson were stark against his pale skin under the white fluorescent lights. He had dropped the knife, and it clattered loudly into the sink, blood staining its metallic surface. When he ran the tap, ribbons of red twirled and spun, swept in the current of running water, before they sunk into the vortex.

He feels like that now. His stomach is churning, whirling, he can barely keep in the cake he’s eaten. There’s a sinking feeling in his stomach, something that catches hold of his heart and pulls it under; he feels like he’s about to hurl yet his jaws are clamped tight together, he feels his heart is beating all too loudly yet it’s also cold and unflinching in the bottom of his gut.

Too many thoughts are flooding his mind; he can hear the feedback noise in his head screeching and ringing, the screams of a mind clawing for escape where there’s none to give. It’s the swan song of a sad man’s dying hopes; the vestiges of a wretched man’s final dreams.

It’s been ten hours. He’d rushed into the café at ten thirty, with the only people there being the waitress, and a server clearing up two tables. He had sat himself down by a small booth in the corner, his nerves causing his fingers to drum against the table top, and waited.

Bought himself a drink, took it with a pounding heart. Waited.

Picked at the corners of a carrot cake, nibbled at the edges. Waited.

Three hours, lunch hour crowd, jostling and crammed. Waited.

Five hours, another cup. Waited.

Seven hours, stops the server from clearing his plates. Waited.

Eight hours, coffee, black as the night. Waited. Or is he still even waiting?

Nine hours, knows the waiters are staring at him. Waited.

Ten hours, three cups of coffee, one slice of carrot cake later. And still, waiting.

Maybe he missed her, but, how can he? He’s been here only thirty minutes after opening hours, and has been here since. He hasn’t even left for a cigarette break – what are the chances that he had missed her in his thirty minutes of tardiness? How is it possible that she can’t even deign to wait for thirty measly minutes, when he’s been on standby for her for _months_?

Maybe it’s the pigeon’s fault. Messenger pigeons aren’t the most trustworthy, after all; maybe he got his message late.

Maybe she never wanted to meet him. Maybe she’s just playing around with him again, maybe she’s just stringing him along and laughing to see if he’s still as attached to her little finger as he was months before. Maybe she’s cackling right now, watching him dance like a marionette at her every little whim. Maybe it’s all just a big joke. Maybe it’s all just a big joke to her.  

Maybe she’s in trouble. Maybe she tried, but something got in her way. Maybe she’s trying to get to him, trying to meet him, but there’s no way of doing that. Maybe Big Mom’s got her bounded and there’s no way of escape. Maybe she needs his help.

He wants it to be the last one, oh, he wants it so _desperately_ to be the last scenario, but how can he wish such a terrible fate unto Pudding? Sanji knows, deep down, that he’s been played. She never wanted to meet him, he’s just a theatre show for her and he’s acting his heart out, but she doesn’t even bother to come to the performance.

He needs a cigarette. He needs a drink.

He needs his life back.

 _Fuck_ , he betrayed his friends, and for what? He’s such a useless, hopeless fool. He’s been played so bad, yet still he comes scurrying at the very curl of her finger. He’s so stupid, so helpless, so pathetic, so _desperate_ , why can’t he see that a girl like her would never truly care for a man like him? All that hope, all those fantasies, they come crashing down around him and it’s been too many times. It’s been too many times that he’s had to sweep up the pieces and build them back up all by himself. They’ve been falling, and he’s been rebuilding, again and again and again, so many times, and he doesn’t have the energy to continue. He can’t do this anymore.

He just wants to go back to his bed, curl up, and sleep. Shove everything out of his mind. Push everything aside. His hopes have only crippled him, he doesn’t need them anymore. Doesn’t want to think. Doesn’t want to breathe. Doesn’t want to do anything.

Joints creak as he drags himself out of the booth. He needs a cigarette, but it’s too much effort to just reach into his pocket and fumble for one, so he gives up. The air is frigid outside, but it doesn’t faze him.

He’s been through worse, after all.

It takes a while before he gets back home. He gets lost a couple of times, nearly walks into traffic a couple more, and it’s with sweet relief that he finally fits his key into the lock and twists it.

Zoro’s lounging on the sofa as Sanji stumbles in. The man glances at him, but he doesn’t ask after him, doesn’t probe about his disappearance.

“Want a beer?” He offers, and there’s already a can of beer on the table beside Zoro’s own, unopened. It’s almost as though the man was expecting Sanji to need it.

Sanji eyes the beer, but… he’s not in the mood to drink. He really doesn’t want to drink, but the guilt of the day’s actions pulls his feet over to Zoro, and he sinks into the seat beside him.

Zoro picks up Sanji’s can and opens it, handing it over to the blond. Sanji wraps his fingers around it hesitatingly; it’s not cold, as if it’s been sitting out for a while. The blond brings the can up to his lips, but can’t seem to force it down his throat.

“You don’t gotta drink it if you don’t want to,” his roommate says, but he isn’t looking at Sanji. It’s better that way, it’s better if Zoro doesn’t look at him, because if he does… Sanji doesn’t know what he’ll do. Throw the can down, perhaps, but he doesn’t have the energy for that. Dart into his room, that’s more likely. Yeah, he’ll probably end up doing that, and he… doesn’t want to. He wants to be left alone, but not _alone_. He’s been alone too long already today, ten hours of him drowning in his own solitude. This silence, right here, is enough.

His fingers clench around the can, and he tips it over into his mouth, downing it in a single shot. The coffee’s made him pretty full, but somehow drinking the beer makes him crave for more. He picks up Zoro’s half-empty one and downs it too, and then when Zoro produces another from where he’s placed them lined up on the floor, he drinks that as well.

Five and a half cans of beer, three cups of coffee, one carrot cake, and Sanji’s in dire need of a piss.

He stays there though, refuses to let the bladder win. Refuses to get back up to his feet and do anything, really. He just stares blankly at the black screen of the TV, and Zoro stares, equally silently, at the wall behind it.

He’s so fucking _stupid._ Sanji can’t help the words from running through his mind. So stupid, so stupid, so fucking stupid, he’s such a big _idiot_ , why the fuck did he think anything would come out of this? Why the fuck, what even, what was he –

So _fucking_ stupid.

Doesn’t deserve this. Doesn’t deserve her. Doesn’t deserve anything, really, who the hell is he to even make such demands? Poor little itty bitty Sanji, wants a little bit of _love_ , pfft, who wants to give it to him anyway?

_“You’re so useless, you don’t deserve to be part of the family! You don’t deserve the Vinsmoke name!”_

Ha. He knows. He knows from the start, don’t waste those words on him, he _knows_ it already. Knows it so acutely it kills him on the inside. He’s not worth it. He’s undeserving of that prestigious name, ugh, whatever, he knows it already. Shut up, stop repeating common knowledge. He _knows._

 _“What’s_ wrong _with him? What’s wrong with you! Look at those brows, look at him, he’s so_ weird _, stay away from him!”_

Even the small kids at the playground knew then that there’s something intrinsically wrong with him, he should’ve believed them, he should’ve realised it sooner, young kids can’t lie, they’ve a knack for seeing the truth, and they saw the truth of him long ago.

If only he hadn’t been so stubborn then, if only he had taken their words in. Maybe he’d have learnt of a way to deal with himself. Maybe it’d be easier for him when he grew up.

_“… Yes, yes! Yes, of course I will, of course I’m willing to marry you! Oh my god, Sanji, yes!”_

Sanji has to scoff at that. She’s really… such an amazing actress, isn’t she? She’s incredible, how could she have stayed with him for so long? How could she stand him, he can’t even stand himself, she’s incredible. How could he have lived in denial for so long, the disparity between them was so huge, he’s a fool to not have realised sooner that a girl like her would never have actually fallen for a man like him.

And then.

_“You’re better than you think you are, Sanji.”_

Nami. Nami… she had said that, hadn’t she? It still feels like a dream but… it’s true, isn’t it? At the beach, back then, she’d said it. Those words actually did come out of her mouth, she’d thought those words out and formed them on her lips and they had actually been _said,_ out loud, to him, about him. He doesn’t remember what she said next, but… those words.

It feels like something’s breaking inside of him, and he doesn’t want to let it loose, but the seams keep snapping apart and…

_“You’re worth something, Sanji. Not Sanji Vinsmoke – simply, Sanji.”_

He nearly jolts out of his seat at Zoro’s voice ringing in his head.

Is he, though? Is he?

He shouldn’t have glanced at Zoro, because once he does, all hell breaks loose. The tears go streaming down his face, so much and so quickly, he suddenly finds it hard to breathe. He’s choking and he’s sobbing and his chest feels like it’s being torn into shreds and the corners of his mouth are burdened with the entire weight of his overwhelming emotions and he just _can’t stop crying_.

A hand wraps around his shoulders and tugs him closer, and he doesn’t have the energy to resist. He curls in toward the warm body, presses his face into a shoulder, and the tears flood his cheeks.

It’s angry, loud wailing. It’s fingers digging in and grabbing. It’s saliva dripping trails from an open mouth, and Sanji couldn’t care less.

He vaguely registers a hand on his head, fingers threading through his hair. The calm, soothing movement of breaths being taken, warmth sinking into his skin.

Maybe even some words too, humming in the background, low words spoken. They’re calming, somewhat, even though he doesn’t hear them. He feels the words rumbling from a chest, but they don’t register in his head. It’s background music, and he lets them pass him by.

It takes a second. It takes forever. But eventually the tears dry up, and his chest stops heaving, the thoughts stop coming and his swollen lids fall shut against wet lashes.

He falls asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The song Law's listening to is Silence by Jay Chou (okay, I love this guy, he is amazing, can't wait to go for his concert in a few months' time). It was completely unplanned to include it, but it just came out and I decided to just go with the flow. Listen to it if you have the time! It's really amazing.
> 
> Once again, thank you so much for reading!


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